Alone with Everybody
by butterflygirl
Summary: *Complete* (Gohan/???) Loneliness is a powerful emotion... and when you're alone on a whole planet with everybody else, keeping secrets is hard...especially from a girl who can read your mind! (sorry- chaps 1 and 2 are screwed, unfixable. Read 2, then 1.)
1. Chapter 1

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
  
  
Oh no. She recognised me! It'll be all over school this morning, Gohan thought to himself again as he walked hesitantly into the front yard. He'd spent all last night worrying over it, and his name just kept repeating inside his mind, over and over, her quietly questioning voice sending him into a panic. Oh well, I still have to go, he thought with a mental groan, and walked through the gate into a maelstrom of people.  
  
"Did you hear?" Gohan turned to see Iraza walking up to him, eyes wide and sparkling. "The Great Saiyaman saved Will last night! Isn't that cool?!" She rushed to tell somebody else as Gohan's eyes roved the multitude.  
  
He realised he could hear Will's voice in the middle of the crowd, and strained to listen to what she said with a sinking heart.  
  
"Alright, already! Some guys from one of the other forms dragged me into the trees, started beating me up, the Great Saiyaman arrived and sent them packing." Will sighed in exasperation. She'd been telling this story since she'd got into school, and she was sick of repeating it over and over, while Videl, who normally stood up for people, just watched with a smile at her own part in the story. "He left, I collapsed, Videl found me." Various questions were hurled at her- for at least the tenth time each. "No, I don't know who it was." Her eyes locked on Gohan's, and he could tell his face was one of confusion. Why had she said she didn't know? Was this more blackmail, like that other girl Angela? What did she want? She didn't seem like the 'desperate for a date' type.  
  
The bell shrilled, piercing into his delicate eardrums. Gohan winced, following the crowd into school, still trying to figure out why Will hadn't told.  
  
^^^  
  
"Will?"  
  
Gohan called after her at recess. He had to know why she hadn't revealed his secret identity. It was driving him crazy.  
  
"Oh, hey, Gohan." Will raised one eyebrow in question. "Did you want something?"  
  
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Gohan led her over to a bench, where he sat carefully, trying not to sit too heavily and break it. The girl sat down on the opposite side and watched him, waiting silently for him to speak.  
  
"Why didn't you tell?" he asked in a rush, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he remembered to check if anyone was near. Then he realised. What if her blackout means she doesn't remember? What if I just gave it away?!   
  
"Because it's not my secret to tell," Will replied quietly, after glancing around to see that nobody was near. "And it won't be yours, either, if you're not careful."  
  
Well, that puts the 'she forgot' theory out of the window, Gohan thought with a grimace. "Why not? Anybody else would have."  
  
"You don't trust me, do you," Will asked in an almost silent whisper. "You really don't believe I'd keep your secret."  
  
"Do I have any reason to think you would?" Gohan asked before he could stop himself, and went on to add, "Someone blackmailed me last week, and that turned out to be about my underwear!"  
  
"Fine then. I only know one way to get you to trust me." Will sighed. She'd never told anybody this before, but it was the only way he'd trust her. If he didn't, he might destroy her. And if he told, she'd tell everybody the truth about Gohan. "Once upon a time, a few generations ago, an alien came to Earth."  
  
Gohan held his breath. She wasn't talking about his dad, was she? If she was, he'd have to do something about her. She already knew too much for his own- and Goten's- safety.  
  
"She wasn't the first alien of her type to come to this planet. For many centuries, they had been coming to Earth, to find mates."  
  
She? It's not my dad she's talking about, then. But- other aliens? That we didn't know about?   
  
"The aliens had been seen, sometimes, by humans who were not chosen, and were given the name 'Elves'."  
  
Gohan nearly laughed out loud. "But Elves are fairy tales!"  
  
Will looked at him with accusing green eyes, and the laughter was stilled in his throat. "All stories have a grain of truth in them. When people were 'taken by the fairies', it was them being taken back to the home planet. When they returned, centuries later, old and grey, it was because they wished to return home to die." She smiled lopsidedly. "I know it's hard to believe, but can I please finish?" Gohan nodded mutely, and she continued.  
  
"The elves were fragile creatures, and they needed to mix with human genes to keep from becoming far too frail." Will held a finger up, stopping him from interrupting. "Now this is the important bit. This alien fell in love with a man, and he loved her. But he wouldn't leave Earth, and she couldn't leave him. So she stayed, and gave birth to a son. She died in labour." Will stopped, and took a deep breath. This was taking everything she had- and despite the fact that she would tell everybody who the 'Great Saiyaman' was, she'd still end up in a zoo if anybody found out. Always a great incentive. "The son had children, and so on. But the children were always mostly human, with very few vestiges of Elf. Then, a female descendant had a daughter who was not like the others. A throwback, a freak, a misfit, whatever you wish to call her. They named her Willow, because she was so fragile and thin. And that child grew up, strange and alone on this planet. Mostly elf. An alien on her home planet, the only one of her kind. " A single tear of loneliness welled up in her eye, and she dashed it away with the back of her hand before Gohan could be certain it had even existed. "And that's why you can trust me. Because if I tell everybody exactly who you are, then you'll tell everybody what I am, and they'll lock me away in some freak show, to be stared at." A sharp movement of her hand, and her hair was brushed back, revealing a pointed ear that wasn't that unusual to Gohan after his visit to Namek, but was very unexpected when it came to humans- or presumed humans. The hair fell back and covered it, and she seemed normal again, but for those strange, hostile and eerie eyes that once more stared at him.  
  
# I'm alone with everybody on this planet. # The thought came from nowhere, a lonely sigh that Gohan heard without his ears. He stiffened in alarm and looked around. It hadn't been any mind-speech he recognised, but…  
  
"What did I do?" Will whispered, a look of panic on her face.  
  
"I just…was that your thought?" Gohan asked, a similar look of astonishment on his features.  
  
"Oh, no…" Will took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. "It's happening again. I'm broadcasting my thoughts on broad-wave access."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Let me explain…" 


	2. Chapter 2

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Gohan took his empty seat next to Iraza and looked around the classroom. The grey day settled heavily on the windowpane. It was only a week after he had started at Orange Star High, but he still wasn't sure about everybody's name. It was difficult to get into conversations, and even harder to make friends.  
  
"Good morning, class," the teacher announced dully, and opened the register with a sigh. Save answering his own name, Gohan took little notice of it. Registration had become part of his daily life, a boring monotone to ignore as he thought of other, more interesting things.  
  
"Alright, boys and girls, Math." Mr Shakiro had arrived already, and Gohan had hardly noticed it. Shaking himself from his unusually vacant daze, he watched as the problems were laboriously written on the board and the teacher advanced slowly up the class.  
  
"Willow?"  
  
Looking up, Gohan listened with his sensitive saiyajin hearing as the girl was told to work out pi up to as many decimal places as possible in her head, a far cry from the simple Pythagorean equations the rest of the class had been given.  
  
"Who's that?" he asked Iraza, nodding towards the back of the girl in front. Gohan knew for certain that she hadn't been in school before- he would have remembered the strange, unearthly pale hair that grew down to her slim waist.  
  
"Her? Oh, she's Will," the blonde replied, grinning at Gohan. "Unusual hair, huh? She's only here 'cos she's got to be by law- she already aced all the courses. The teachers just give her whatever they can think of to keep her busy. She'd be popular if she tried, but she keeps to herself. She's the one to ask for help, though." Iraza smiled. "Maybe they'll put you on her course if you try hard enough, Mr 100%."  
  
"Oh," Gohan replied blankly, staring again at the strange mane of almost colourless hair, then returned to his equations, hurrying through the simple tasks he'd been given.  
  
^^^  
  
"Hi, I'm Gohan."  
  
He'd caught up with Will after Math, on their way to Gym. He didn't have many friends yet, and it was polite to introduce himself if she didn't already know who he was. Besides, he'd come across a really horrible problem at the end of the set work that he just couldn't solve.  
  
"Hi. I'm Will. You're the new boy, right?" she asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder with one hand and looking at him with sharp, sea-green eyes that had far more pigment in than both her skin and hair combined.  
  
"Yeah, that's me," he managed, uncomfortable under her piercing gaze. It felt as though she was rifling through his mind, and he couldn't shake off the discomfort. Then she smiled, and the weird feeling faded as he walked to his locker, struggled to open it, gave the door a thump and dumped his textbooks.  
  
"Ouch. You got one of the bad lockers," she remarked with a lopsided grin. "The ones with dodgy locks. Come on. We're going to the office."  
  
Following her in bafflement, Gohan found himself in the office, with her talking to one of the bespectacled secretaries.  
  
"You see, I'm showing Gohan the ropes and his locker is really far away from mine. Do you think he could have one in the four-hundred-twenties?"  
  
"Sure. 423 alright, Will?"  
  
"Thanks, Ms. Yamagatchi!" Will grinned and turned, with Gohan following her.  
  
"What did you do that for?" he asked, perplexed.  
  
"Do I need a reason?" Will replied, glancing over her shoulder. "Call it a favour." The strange, unexplained girl walked off, leaving Gohan to wonder what had just happened.  
  
^^^  
  
Walking down the road after school, Will pondered the new boy. Gohan, wasn't it? Her cousin Bulma had mentioned a Gohan she knew, once, but that didn't mean he was the same. Still, she had one of her feelings about this, and one thing Will had learnt was that when she got one of those feelings, it was rarely ever wrong.  
  
Suddenly, a muscular hand grabbed at her arm from the foliage and dragged her roughly under the trees, away from the comparative safely of the pavement. Another hand was slapped over her mouth before she could scream her distress and she looked up to recognise some of the biggest guys from another form.  
  
Oh, no, she thought in a panic, clawing to get free but not making any impact on the larger boys. This has got to be form rivalry. And they had to pick me! Dumped heavily on the ground and fighting for breath, she only had time to watch in wide-eyed horror as a volley of feet and fists came flying in her direction, and she screamed in pain as one after another connected, bruising imprints further into pale flesh on each landing. The fear was worst; she knew that after only a few minutes of this, she could quite possibly be left with broken bones. They gave no reason for their assault, and any insults or words they spat were blurred by the roar of panic in her mind.  
  
A loud thump sounded with a whoosh of air, as if of knuckles on stomach. Will looked up muzzily, badly bruised and shaken, to recognise the 'Great Saiyaman' everybody had been talking about. But that wasn't all she recognised.  
  
"Gohan?" she asked quietly, frowning in growing confusion, before the roar got so loud it was silent darkness, and the last thing she registered were running footsteps, running both away and towards the spot where she lay. 


	3. Chapter 3

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
  
  
# Gohan, stop making calf's-eyes at Videl. People are starting to snigger, and the more you look, the more you blush. Sooner or later, she's going to look up. #   
  
Gohan's head came up sharply as this thought came into his mind, unbidden, and it certainly wasn't his own. It almost sounded like…  
  
Will was in the seat in front of him, and her shoulders were shaking with compressed laughter. Her head turned, and she was grinning with unhidden amusement.  
  
Kamisama, now she's talking to me like this! Gohan thought to himself, and concentrated on keeping it to himself. # Will? #   
  
# Yes? # Will turned around again, and those eyes were staring at him once more, deep and unreadable.  
  
# How come I can talk to you like this? I'm not an elf! #   
  
# I'm reading your thoughts. You're projecting them my way, so that's how. At least you stopped staring at Videl. # Will giggled softly and the laughter was reflected for an instant in her eyes, before it disappeared into the perpetually cold depths of green. # I think she would have pummelled you, and there's no way you can reveal your secret in front of the whole school! #   
  
# What do you mean, staring at Videl? I wasn't- #  
  
# Oh, please. Start thinking with your head- you only have one brain, and that's where it's usually placed- but you can't tell with some guys! # Will joked, and sent him an image of his own face, eyes wide and looking, as she said, at Videl.  
  
# Ha ha, very funny. #   
  
# I know. Isn't it? # Will asked, then cut him off, and he could feel her presence withdraw from his mind. Will?   
  
Nothing but silence. Her pencil was scratching hurriedly over the paper as she added Kami knew what chemical to a violently coloured substance in a test-tube. It began to fizz warningly, and the teacher looked up in alarm as Will yelled from under her desk, "Take cover!"  
  
The students ducked hastily, books over faces, as the test-tube exploded dramatically. Fragments of glass scythed across the room. Gohan stuck his head up over the desk and stared at the girl who sat down, shakily, back into her seat. A greenish froth splattered her work. "Um…sorry," Will managed, smiling uncertainly. "Too much potassium, I guess."  
  
"Willow! Get out of the classroom!" Mr. Shakiro was covering them for chemistry, and it was obvious that explosions were not acceptable in his classes. Gohan winced at the fury in his voice, but Will simply smiled politely and walked out of the classroom.  
  
# Don't just start staring again as soon as I'm not able to see, Gohan, # she remarked almost playfully, and left him alone in his head once again.  
  
^^^  
  
Will leant heavily on the wall outside the classroom and let out a huge sigh of relief. Keeping the sheer terror from her voices- both mind and physical- took a huge effort, one she'd found hard to deal with. It was time to face the truth- she was absolutely petrified of Gohan. And she knew exactly why. He was the one person in the world who she couldn't guarantee wouldn't tell her secret to somebody, and thus let her end up in some research lab, running tests and eventually being killed, all for science. Her family wouldn't inform, but it was so difficult to keep up a happy-go- lucky face while inside she gibbered with terror. If Gohan realised just how scared she was, he could use it against her, and that wasn't an option. She would kill him before she let that happen.  
  
Would I? She wondered painfully, a dull throb in her chest coming to her attention as she thought his name. I couldn't overpower him anyway, and I'm no murderer. I have no reason to think that he'd tell on me. I'm just paranoid. The bell rang, and she dashed back into the classroom, apologising profusely to Mr. Shakiro and grabbing her green-flecked bag, then racing to the next class.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan couldn't tell Will that Videl knew he was the Great Saiyaman. He'd seen the look in her eyes; she was scared of him, and with good reason. If all she'd said was true, he had the power to destroy her life without raising a finger, without a single attack other than a slip of the tongue. And if she found out Videl knew about him, what else might she suppose he had told the girl…  
  
That morning had been hell, as he tried to work out what it was about Videl that put him so off balance. It had been embarrassing to find that people had noticed his thoughts and commented on them. Firstly, Videl had told him that she knew he was the Great Saiyaman. Then, he had been astonished to find out that the girl he thought of as one of his better friends- however conservative she was- was petrified at the thought of talking to him. And, to add insult to injury, had pointed out his 'infatuation' as it appeared to her, with Videl.  
  
Kamisama! Gohan thought to himself in exasperation. I'll never win every battle.   
  
^^^  
  
"Um…excuse me?"  
  
Will was mildly intimidated just by the look on this woman's face. She assumed it was Gohan's okasaan, but years of experience told her not to fix on any expectations. The carpet could always be yanked abruptly from beneath your feet, with you landing face-first in the mud.  
  
"Yes?" Chichi looked the girl over. She has to be another of these girls from Gohan's class, she decided. She'd better be more polite than that girl Videl!   
  
"I was looking for Gohan. He was off school again today, and I brought him his work," Will managed, shrinking slightly at the intense scrutiny she was placed under. "I know he likes to keep up."  
  
"Oh! Thank you," Chichi answered, smiling widely now the topic had become that of Gohan's education. "I'll go get him."  
  
"Will?"  
  
The elf turned to see Gohan come out the door, bemused and followed by a small boy. Gulping slightly, she chucked her fear into the back of her mind, but it continued to nudge her at the edge of her concentration. "I brought your schoolwork," she said in a rush, the words tumbling over each other in their hurry to escape before her mouth jammed up. "My 'tousan dropped me off. I told him I'd get a cab back."  
  
"You didn't have to," Gohan replied, and took the work from her hands. "I was about to go out and train with my little brother, Goten."  
  
Will knelt, more comfortable with the small boy than with talking to Gohan. She loved kids, and seemed to get on better with them than anybody her own age. "Hey, Goten," she greeted him, with a grin. The kid was adorable! "You as strong as your brother? 'Cos I'm a bit scared of the mountains, to tell you the truth."  
  
The little boy grinned in delight and puffed his chest out. "I'm stronger'n he is!" Goten declared, grinning in return. "I'll look after you! Come meet my friends!" And Will found herself dragged along on a training expedition, hand-in-hand with the small half-saiyajin.  
  
^^^  
  
"I'm afraid I'm not very good at throwing," Will told Goten, a weak smile on her face. "I haven't got the knack. I can try chucking them at you, but it might be too easy." Gohan smiled at the sight of his little brother with the compassionate elf. She had a way with children, that was certain, and Goten was showing off like mad. He was getting the best workout so far, all because Will was there. The rocks flew towards his little brother, and were easily dodged. She was right; she wasn't very good at throwing. Her arm simply wasn't strong enough to throw them very fast.  
  
They were nearing the true mountains now, with caves and rocks in abundance. Will had only kept up because she was fast; being light had made the difference. She couldn't keep up her top speed for long, but when she went, it was obvious this was no human. Besides the strange pigmentation of her outer appearance, her mind kept flickering; one minute she was free and careless, then the next she seemed to remember her fear and withdrew into her protective shell.  
  
"Um…Gohan?" Will asked, frowning in consternation. "I think maybe we'd better get out of here."  
  
"Why? We're just getting really warmed up," Gohan responded easily, thinking this one of her reticent moods.  
  
"There's something not right here. I don't think it means us any good, and it's not just a dinosaur." She shivered as the feeling of evil washed over her, and her eyes were wide and haunted. One look, and Gohan could see that something wasn't right.  
  
"Goten, run home as fast as you can, and tell 'kasaan I'm on my way," Gohan said slowly, giving Goten a little push to hurry him along. Puzzled, the little boy did as he was asked, not daring to disobey the command in his older brother's voice.  
  
"What is it?" he asked Will, until she put a finger to his lips, effectively shutting him up.  
  
# It's not far off, # Will told him in his mind, keeping silently, opening a thought-channel. # Silence, and it might leave us alone. #   
  
A feral scream, and something burst from a cave further up the mountain and thumped down into the spot where Gohan had been standing just a moment before. Gohan stared in horror as the Cell Junior- not so junior any more- approached in silent menace, and began to swing hits so powerful it was all he could do to block them. I'm too rusty! He realised as he took a hit to the face, then the shoulder. It's not as powerful as Cell, but I don't have the time to power up, and if I do, I might hurt Will! Backing off, he tried to get his feet but was knocked back again.  
  
Unknown to any of the Z-fighters, Cell had made his own preparations in the unlikely- very unlikely, to his mind- event of his destruction, and had created a practice Cell Junior in the woods. It had its orders, and now it was trying to carry them out by killing the 'murderers' of its father.  
  
Will screamed in agony as she watched that whatever-it-was knock Gohan to the ground and begin to kick him violently. She yearned to do something; she was so helpless… A strange feeling thought drifted from the bottom of her mind and she grabbed at it mentally, willing to try anything, hoping she could do something with it. Her mind exploded with fire. Rivulets of ice trickled through her pale flesh as she felt rather than saw huge, perfect, intricate wings fashioned from blinding light unfold from her back. The Cell Junior gawked at her in horror and began to gibber. She knew that her image had shifted to that of an angel. The knowledge was in-built in her, yet she had never known it existed. An angel- a being of infinite power. She smiled without humour. She raised a slender outstretched hand and spoke a single alien word. A searing bolt of light leapt from her fingers to engulf the cowering creature. It shrieked as it's cells disintegrated and were broken into simple elements. Will's bright wings faded and she fell sharply to her knees in the shock of what had just happened, blinking rapidly to eradicate the glowing after-images. She knew without doubt that the blast had only been light; there was no way that it could have destroyed that animal thing, whatever it was. The landscape was as it had been before, and Gohan was still unconscious. The only explanation- the only logical explanation she could come up with when her mind was spinning with bewilderment and she had absolutely no idea what had just happened- was placebo. That…thing thought I was an angel, and expected to be destroyed, and so it was, she realised, with sudden anger at her own cowardice. She had had to resort to mind tricks to kill the thing; she had no real power. Her eyes roved until they glued themselves to Gohan's unconscious body, and she walked over, picking him up, aided by the adrenaline that still flowed through her veins. She slung him over her arms with his head and arm around her neck, then began the long, slow walk back to his house, a journey of miles which she wasn't going to find easy.  
  
1 To be continued…  
  
Well, what did you think? This fic has taken me months to complete, but I think I'll release a few chapters a day… (heehee)  
  
Anyway, I'm always looking for new stuff to read, so even if you're logged out, please use your username and I'll check yours out (and review too!) 


	4. Chapter 4

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Chichi was almost on the point of emotional collapse when the knock came on the door. Gohan had been out for hours, and Goten had had no idea of what it had been that girl had sensed. She hadn't seemed the type to be trying to elope with her son, but…  
  
The door was flung open in front of Will's eyes and her eyes forced themselves closed against the onslaught of the light on her retinas. She shuffled inside, Gohan still limp against her torso, and sighed in relief at having brought him safely home.  
  
"Where were you?" Chichi asked, then her eyes fixed on her son, lying still in the girl's arms. "What happened?!" she asked in terror, but letting go a gasp of relief when she saw he was breathing.  
  
"I don't know," Will managed, staggering out of the way as the door was shut behind her. "Something attacked us. Something strong. Where shall I put him?" Chichi showed her Gohan's bed and she dropped him the last few centimetres before slumping, exhausted. Chichi stared at the floor, and saw footprints etched in muddied blood where the girl had walked.  
  
"What's wrong with your feet?" she asked, frowning at the mess. Will looked downwards and winced. "My shoes wore out and so did my feet, it would seem. It was a long way." Her eyelids flopped and she pulled them upwards with an effort, and began to hobble towards the door. "I'd better go home," she mumbled, reaching weakly towards the door handle. "I'll leave you all to sleep. Say hi to Gohan from me when he wakes up."  
  
"Stay the night," Chichi offered, looking kindly at the worn out girl. "You're Will, right? Gohan told me about you." The look on the girls' face turned to panic, and Chichi realised how devastating that revelation had to be for her. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody," she reassured her. "Sleep on the couch. It's the best we have to offer. You should have better really." The girl had picked him up, despite her apparent weakness, and walked miles to bring him home. The couch was the least she should give.  
  
"Thanks," Will whispered, and moved to lie on the couch, asleep before her head hit the cushions.  
  
^^^  
  
"What happened?" Gohan asked when he woke up, seeing his little brother staring at him intently from the bed next to his.  
  
"You got attacked. Will brought you back. She's still asleep on the couch," Goten told him actively and pulled at his hand.  
  
"Will brought me back?" Gohan whispered, and wondered at the information. She was barely strong enough to throw a rock at any reasonable speed, even for a human, but still she had walked all the way back with him limp and useless over her shoulder?  
  
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he started as the information came back to him. What happened to the Cell Junior?! His mind screamed, and he walked quickly into the sitting room, to look down at her sleeping face. It was so peaceful that he thought she might be dead, except that her chest was rising and falling normally. Those entrancing eyes were closed now, and she was curled into the foetal position, arms held tightly to her torso.  
  
"What is she?" Goten breathed, looking over the arm of the couch. "She's not human, is she?"  
  
"No, Goten, she's not," Gohan told him, placing a hand on his brother's head and ruffling his hair. "See? Like Piccolo." He pulled back her hair to show the pointed ear, as Will's eyes flickered open. He retracted his arm hastily.  
  
"Gohan?" she asked drowsily, and he placed a hand on her arm.  
  
"Look, thanks-" he began, before she winced in pain. Frowning, he grabbed her hand and pulled back her sleeve, showing huge maturing bruises that ran from her wrist to her forearm, black and purple and excruciatingly painful if he was any judge. They stood out darkly against pale, near translucent skin.  
  
"Will, that's a fracture!" Gohan nearly yelled as he looked at her arm, running his fingers lightly over the uneven place on her limb.  
  
She pulled away, dragging the coarse fabric over the markings his unconscious body had left. Quickly, he grabbed the other sleeve, revealing more bruises, and the neck of her top slipped as the sleeve shifted, uncovering even worse wounds on her shoulder. She recoiled from his fingers, covering the welts and standing, before gasping and sitting down again hurriedly. Looking downwards, Gohan saw the state of her feet- they were torn to ribbons. Almost literally.  
  
"Why did you do all that?" he asked viciously, staring straight into her eyes. "Goten would have brought 'kasaan there eventually. Why did you hurt yourself so?"  
  
Because I think I love you. Will had dragged herself through hell last night, the only thing keeping her going the thought of getting Gohan to help. The only thing persuading her it was worth it the shifting of his chest as he breathed deeply. His hair against her skin. Her pain was nothing compared to what would happen now. She'd seen him with Videl; they were destined and she was doomed. One thing she had found in this new wealth of knowledge was a species memory that had surfaced in her emotional turmoil. The main fault of her species was their loyalty, to the point of excess. They only fell in love once in a lifetime, and those not loved back often died early deaths from their impulsive confusion. Which meant that she would die earlier than she had suspected, even in her most pessimistic moods. Because Gohan was falling for Videl, and the feeling appeared to be mutual. "How was I supposed to know?" Will replied bitingly. "I know next to nothing about you or your family." The whole thought process had taken only a few seconds, the realisations and emotions running through her mind at lightning speed.  
  
"What happened to the Cell Junior?" Gohan asked now, getting down to business and sitting down beside her. Will clamped her hands in her lap and put on her 'reporting' face. "I destroyed it," she whispered, and realised how stupid it sounded. "I…did something I can't explain. Somehow, I created an image of myself as an angel. The thing thought I was an angel, an almighty creature of Kami, and expected destruction. Then I shot light at it." She stopped, and realised her hands were shaking. "It was only light. It didn't destroy anything else. It wasn't any kind of energy except light. And its expectation of destruction meant that it disintegrated." She sighed, a breath of resignation. "It was a cowardly way to kill. All I did was trick its mind. I'm too weak to be any use to anybody."  
  
"Well, you were useful to me," Gohan told her with a grin. "You saved my life!"  
  
Will smiled weakly. "You go back to bed now. You're too hurt. I'll walk to the village and get a cab."  
  
"I won't hear of it!" Chichi exclaimed from the background. "You can't walk with your feet in tatters. But she's right about one thing, mister- you get back to bed now! Goten will fly her back on Nimbus." She turned to the girl "And we need to bandage your feet…"  
  
Gohan trudged back to his room, and stole another look at Will as she walked out of the door, his little brother on her heels.  
  
^^^  
  
When Will got inside, she collapsed against the front door, having waved goodbye to Goten, and made sure nobody could see her through a window. Finally! Then she screamed in pain, and fell to the floor.  
  
# Will? # Gohan had heard an animal cry of wordless agony, and he was in her mind, probing her for answers. She hadn't realised that her psyche had been flung wide open. Slamming closed the contact, she started to cry helplessly both with her injuries and the bittersweet pain she felt at the entrapment her very species had brought upon her. 


	5. Chapter 5

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
"Will?"  
  
She cursed as soon as she recognised the voice on the other end of the phone. Gohan had rung her, despite her throwing closed the mental connection. She couldn't let him know how weak she was, or there'd be no point to being friends with him. She didn't need help. I'm not a weakling! She yelled to herself. Ever since she was a child, she'd had a slight inferiority complex, based in her hate of her own frailty. How much of a pushover she'd been, and still was, at anything physical. And now it was coming to the fore of her mind once again.  
  
"Hey, Gohan. I only just got in. Did you need some help with the work?" She was careful to keep her voice neutral and normal. Perhaps he would think he'd imagined it and go away, to quit torturing her with what she couldn't have.  
  
"No, I was wondering how you were, what with your arm and all. Maybe you should see a doctor-"  
  
"Are you nuts?" Will almost yelled, only just keeping her voice in check. "If anybody was to find out, it'd be at the doctor's surgery. No way. I can deal with it myself."  
  
"I thought I heard you scream, in your mind-speech. I'm sure it was you-"  
  
"It wasn't, Gohan. I'm fine. I gotta go. Bye!" she set the phone down, her heart thumping like an express train. No matter how she felt about him, she was still a little scared of what he could do to her if he tried. She could still be found out. She could still be killed for what she was.  
  
That's happening already, she thought with a sigh. My own damn species is killing me, with this loyalty. She couldn't quite bring herself to think love. It was too hard to think of being killed by something like that, so young. Will groaned and dug a palm into her eyes. She was so tired, and dragged herself to bed, cradling that arm. She'd sleep fully clothed until the morning when she would have to go to school once again.  
  
^^^  
  
"I cut my hair for the tournament," Videl was saying, showing off her new haircut. "In case opponents pull on it, of course." She flicked her feathered, shining locks and giggled to herself. Will attempted a smile, but she could tell it came out as an almost grimace. She'd heard Gohan's story of his haircut suggestion to Videl, and had realised exactly why her hair had been cut: for Gohan's benefit. She felt jealous of Videl, then felt dreadful about feeling jealous, and gave herself a mental kick.  
  
Can't I even be human enough to be able to feel jealous? She screamed. Damn it! I can't even be properly envious without my loyalties to my friends getting in the way! She'd investigated the barrier that made her know she would only ever love Gohan, and had found that it extended to anybody she felt friendly towards: she was hopelessly loyal. She felt like a dog. A doting weakling bitch. Go on, kick me, she mentally dared Gohan, wherever he was. You know I'll come running back for more. She kept the thought carefully to herself, but let loose a deep breath.  
  
"It suits you, Videl," she came up with, and was proud of herself when she saw the obvious pleasure on Videl's face at the compliment. Woof.   
  
She couldn't 'steal' Videl's man, no matter how strongly she felt about him, when it was obvious he preferred the ebony-haired fighter. And why not? She's strong, not a weakling like me. Poking her fractured arm, which hung from her neck in a sling, she silently winced in pain and accepted it as necessary punishment. She needed to be hung for pathetic turns of mind.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan wondered about the girls in his life as he meditated. Strictly speaking, he wasn't supposed to think about anything while in reflection, but two faces kept creeping in at the sides of his mind. Videl was pretty, and strong, and somehow always managed to turn him on his head, confusing him until he was running around in circles, no closer to understanding her than before.  
  
And Will. She was pretty in a different way; while Videl was dark, she was pale and slight, but easier to understand. Well- most of the time. He still didn't get why she had refused to acknowledge the obvious suffering her bruises gave her. He still felt guilty about that- though there was nothing he could have done about it, he still felt it was his fault. If he had been less rusty… where had that Cell junior come from anyway?  
  
# Gohan? I'm coming up the road right now with your schoolwork. If there's something you don't want my dad to see, I'd get it over with quick. #   
  
He started at Will's voice and fell heavily to the ground, jolted from his floating meditation.  
  
Talk of the devil. He picked himself up in time to see Will getting out of a car and waving goodbye as it returned to the city.  
  
"Isn't it a long way to drive just for schoolwork?" he asked as she approached, and grimaced at the sling her poor arm was suspended in.  
  
"Well, I thought I might want to spend time with an average friend," she teased, grinning as she handed over the papers. "Though I guess it is a long way to come just to see your ugly mug." There was something in her eyes- something that he hadn't expected, but couldn't put a name to.  
  
"You alright?"  
  
"Yeah. Why?" she asked, smiling bemusedly. "Well, apart from being a bit bashed up."  
  
"No reason. Goten'll be pleased to see you," Gohan told her as they walked towards the house. "He's been asking when you were coming over."  
  
"Well, I guess he'll protect me from little gibbering creatures that fly out of caves and attack my best friend," Will replied airily, ignoring the surprise registering on his face at her words. Best friend? Well, that's a shock! Gohan thought, then reconsidered. I guess Will can't really trust anybody else, not with everything, he realised, and thought that she must be his best friend, or at least, of his age. Piccolo was still one of his better friends, but he couldn't chat about normal stuff. Teenage stuff.  
  
"Will!"  
  
The little boy came running out and smiled at the elf, who tucked her flowing hair behind her ears and crouched.  
  
That's another thing she can't do anywhere else, Gohan thought almost tenderly as he watched her chatting inanely with his little brother, unusual ears exposed to the sunlight. This is one place she can be herself.   
  
He shook his head, trying to shake free these strange new feelings and realisations that were suddenly cluttering up his hitherto clear mind after his session of meditation. Sure, he liked Will a lot. But why all this new protectiveness? 


	6. Chapter 6

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will smiled slightly to herself. She could let her hair down (or rather, put it up) and forget her barriers here. Not all my barriers. She couldn't let Gohan know how she felt about him without losing him, even as a friend. She'd been telling the truth about him being her best friend. But she wanted more, even as she rejected the idea for its idiocy. She would die sooner than anybody expected, that was certain, and she didn't want him there. She'd have to see about that.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan grinned inanely as he walked around before the tournament started. The training had made him feel like his old self again, and his dad was here. Through his excitement, a flash of almost silvery hair caught his eye, but was gone before he could turn to look, with a sudden recognition of a ki source in the crowd. Will was here, but where had she gone?  
  
He turned and peered around, but couldn't see her. Perhaps he was wrong, and it hadn't been her. Yeah, right. Like I could mistake her ki for someone else's. Gohan recognised it by heart now. If it had been a physical property, it would have been a tinkling spring green, with the scent of fresh grass. It was an unmistakable combination.  
  
"Dad?" he asked, stopping Goku and Krillin in their conversation. "Can you feel a ki like cut grass?"  
  
Goku stopped to concentrate, and nodded briefly.  
  
"Where is it?"  
  
"I'm behind you, stupid." Gohan felt himself twitch in shock, and found Will standing behind him with an amused grin, arms folded beneath her breasts. "Don't sneak up on me!" Gohan said in annoyance at not hearing her come up behind her.  
  
"Guess I'm getting better at being quiet," she replied with a smile. "Who are these guys?"  
  
Goku held out his hand with a smile. "I'm Goku, Gohan's dad, and this is Krillin." He turned to indicate the boys behind them. "And these are-"  
  
"Goten and Trunks, I know," Will cut in, and grinned. "Hey, Trunks. Is cousin Bulma here?"  
  
"Yeah. She's behind the lines still." Trunks grinned. "Nice to see you."  
  
"Nice to see you too. You competing?" The others watched in confusion as various pleasantries were exchanged. Gohan tapped her on the shoulder and she turned with a questioning look on his face.  
  
"How do you know Trunks?"  
  
"Bulma's my cousin," Will said with a shrug. "Trunks here is my second cousin. I see him all the time. Guess I forgot to tell you." She walked backwards in front of them as they continued, then stopped with a look of embarrassment on her face. "I'm so sorry!" she gasped with shock. "I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Will, Gohan's friend." Shaking hands with them again, cheeks red, she listened as Gohan began to fill them in on who- and what- Will was with rising panic.  
  
"Gohan!" she nearly screeched, ignoring the heads that turned her way. "Don't, don't, don't..." her eyes wide with terror, she slapped her hand over the demi-saiyajins mouth. "It's bad enough you told your mom and Goten, but sooner or later someone's gonna be told and then they'll..." her eyes filled with terror, and Gohan could tell the images of pain were flowing through her mind.  
  
"It's okay," he told her soothingly, pulling her hand from his mouth and patting it condescendingly. "They won't tell. They've kept bigger secrets than yours before."  
  
Goku and Krillin stared on in bafflement. "Am I missing something here?" Goku asked quietly.  
  
"I'm an elf," Will told them, red with shame. "Go on, ask about the ears."  
  
"Huh?" Krillin and Goku were now staring at the girl, and she turned even more crimson, a startling contrast with her light hair.  
  
"My ancestor was an alien. Got it now? And if anybody finds out, I'll be sent to the government for testing and dissection." She was almost in tears now, and Gohan wasn't surprised. With their reactions, she probably feels even more like an outcast.   
  
Before they could stop her, Will belted off into the crowd. Gohan tried to go after her, a strong sense of right being down that path, but Goku grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Let her go. She needs to cool down. And meanwhile, you can explain what all that was about."  
  
^^^  
  
Will walked up to the tall warrior beside the ring. She'd had an hour to cool down, had rationalised the reactions of Goku and Krillin into surprise, and was now fine- or almost fine- with them. She'd been surprised herself when her parents told her. It was only natural that a human should feel surprised to find out about aliens.  
  
"Gohan explained to me how come you're visiting today."  
  
Goku turned to see the smaller being standing beside him and smiled slightly. His son had explained her situation, and he recognised it as being not that different from his own, but for her relative helplessness. If someone tried to take him or his family, he could defend them. But she would probably die in the attempt, and her body would be taken anyway, dead or alive.  
  
"I think you're wrong." Goku's eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected remark from the elfin girl.  
  
"Wrong about what?" he asked in bewilderment. "I don't understand."  
  
"You chose to stay dead when they could have brought you back to your family." Will sighed. "He said it was because you thought all the danger to the Earth was directed at you. But you're wrong. You decided to stay dead so you could play warriors with some new playmates." She frowned at him, and he could see genuine puzzlement in her eyes. "You missed seven years of your oldest son's life. You missed the first seven years of another's. You broke your wife's heart. You are so loved," she told him with truth ringing in her voice. "You have so many friends, so much to live for, and you decided to train for two hundred years to learn from a guy who fiddled the rules so he didn't have to teach you. I'm going to die soon because I love someone," she confessed, and blinked back painful tears. "There's nothing I can do about it. It's part of my species. I don't get the choice, but you do, and you throw it away because you want to play at fighting!" she barely kept from shouting, and  
scowled full out at Goku, who was now extremely confused. She was so cold, yet so compassionate! And she was attacking his reasoning so violently!  
  
"Gohan is so happy you're here, and yet he knows that far too soon you will be gone again, because you'd prefer to fight than spend time with him. He's had to father your son, his brother, and juggle his schoolwork at the same time. He has a deep fear of being inadequate, not as good as you." Will's fists clenched, and she barely kept in a scream of rage. "He misses you, and feels inferior! You worry that more trouble will come to Earth because of you, and you're so powerful! I killed a Cell Junior- me, the weakest creature on this planet- and you're worried about danger!" She was shaking now, as the truth sank in. "I'm going to die, and if I do, you'd better be here, `cos I don't think Gohan could deal if both of us were dead. "Actually," she said suddenly with a slight manic smile, her mental control snapping, "I don't care any more. Give it a week or two, and it won't bother me any more. I don't care!"  
  
Will glanced around wide-eyed in sudden realisation of what she had just said, and saw Gohan a little way off, approaching with Videl, talking and laughing. "I shouldn't be here," she murmured, and turned those eerie eyes towards the now guilty feeling Goku. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said things like that. Forgive me." She turned and walked off quickly, leaving Goku with a lot to think about.  
  
^^^  
  
Why did I do that? Will wondered, and kicked herself for revealing so much of herself to that stranger. He'll tell Gohan I'm going to die, and that'll be that. He'll feel guilty and I'll never escape to die on my own. She turned her face to the empty air above where she stood in the car park and yelled the words she been longing to shout for ages.  
  
"I don't care any more! Let him stay dead! It won't bother me for long!" She yelled, and knew as she did so that it wasn't true. She'd always care when it came to Gohan. 


	7. Chapter 7

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
"What is it, Dad?" Gohan asked, perplexed, at the far away look on his father's face.  
  
"Nothing, son," Goku replied, only half a mind on the topic of conversation. "Someone very wise just gave me something to think about, that's all."  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan stared in shock at Kibito, having heard the story that made it look like the Earth was doomed yet again. Videl gasped as well, overhearing what was said, and Gohan frowned at his remembrance of her presence.  
  
"Videl, go home." His voice was implacable, and definite. He'd had an idea about how they could deal with this Babidi, but Videl couldn't be there. She had to be safe, but she also couldn't know about what he was about to do. He was so immovable that she gave up after only minimal resistance. Gohan watched as she flew away, and noticed her stop when she was nearly out of sight. He sighed, and rose a few feet into the air, looking pointedly towards her. She turned, and vanished over the horizon. Settling back down to earth with a smile, he explained his plan to Kibito.  
  
^^^  
  
"Hey! Wait up!"  
  
Goku and the others stopped as Gohan and Kibito caught up with them. "I have an... an idea," Gohan gasped, slightly out of breath at the immense speed he had just used.  
  
"That could work," Shin said with a smile spreading over his face, having read Gohan's mind. "Goku, go and fetch the girl Will."  
  
"Will? The elf girl?" Goku asked in puzzlement, but he shrugged in resignation and was back with her in a few seconds, wide-eyed and confused under his arm, hair windswept. Gohan took her from his father, seeing her obvious discomfort. "Supreme Kai, could you show Will what Bibidi looks like?"  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Will asked from her position, tucked under Gohan's arm. "I was just standing there, minding my own business, and then Goku appears, grabs my hand and I'm here instead." She made a futile attempt to smooth the hair down to her scalp. "I'd just bought that ice cream too. Well, I'm sure it's doing a good job of decorating the pavement"  
  
Gohan grinned as they kept flying. He'd been thinking about how she'd made herself those angel wings, and had come up with a theory about the way that they worked and how they could use her abilities for this job. "You know when you made those wings?" he inquired. She nodded.  
  
"How could I forget?" He grinned and continued.  
  
"Well, I think you could make yourself look like whatever you want. You do something with the light, create holograms or something. Reckon you could make yourself look like this?" He pointed to where the Supreme Kai showed them the image of Bibidi. Will's eyes opened in surprise as she took in the ugly creature. She held the image in her mind, closed her eyes, and concentrated. It was kind of like drawing, the only difference being that the representation of the object was in three dimensions, not two. Once she had made the image, maintaining it was as easy as anything, if a little uncomfortable. She felt warm spots at the throat, wrists and shoulder blades, and knew that her image was reality. She opened her eyes, and Bibidi was tucked under Gohan's arm, creased head and big eyes evil in appearance. "Will this do?" Will's voice asked from where she still sat, unable to see what she had done to herself but recognising the looks of surprise on the faces of everybody but  
Gohan, the Supreme Kai and Kibito.  
  
"That'll do fine," Shin breathed, and laughed aloud.  
  
^^^  
  
"Basically, I think that Will has glands or something which create electromagnetic fields, which oscillate to create visible light," Gohan was explaining, as everybody but Will looked on in puzzlement.  
  
Will touched the base of her throat lightly. It was unnaturally hot as it played its part in the production of her illusion.  
  
"Why didn't I think of that?" Will/Bibidi asked in a disbelieving tone, but no expression displayed itself on the countenance of the ugly being from a distant world whom she had become.  
  
"Now, why didn't I think of that?" Goku muttered to himself. "Could it be because I have no idea what they're talking about?" Nobody else heard his mutterings as they sped on towards the wizard and his evil slave.  
  
^^^  
  
"Babidi!"  
  
A dark voice rang out across the empty space as the sound of many feet landing on the hard-packed earth echoed in the silence.  
  
"Father?" The ugly wizard looked up in surprise as an all too familiar figure approached.  
  
"Imbecile! What do you think you are doing, releasing my creature?" Will was finding it difficult to keep the deep voice steady, but her acting classes were paying off now. She was praying her tone wouldn't crack. "And you wondered why I abandoned you as a babe! I was ashamed to have such an idiot of a son!" She turned and gestured to all the points of the compass in a wide sweep of her arm as Babidi and his cronies stared in utter confusion. "What do you see?"  
  
"A world covered in life," Babidi replied, not following.  
  
"Of course! Nobody would look for me here, and even when I re-release my monster, nobody will know it is here that I am!" she took a deep breath, remembering what Gohan had said. This is just another play she told herself. Now act it as best you can. "This is my headquarters for my devious plans, and you would destroy my stronghold. Insolent brat! I have spent millennia engineering the humans to this point, where they will destroy themselves! And you, moron, would ruin all my plans!" Will grinned as she bathed in adrenaline beneath the mask she wore. This was actually quite fun, if you ignored the terror that made her want to wet herself at the sight of that thing. Of course, she had no idea what she was talking about, simply repeating the words fed to her by Gohan. "Kakarrot! Take these fools somewhere far away, and leave them there. I hope, my son, that you will die painfully and be forgotten by all. You embarrass me by your very existence." She spat the words.  
Will turned away in disgust as the saiyajin leaped forwards and took the ugly fighters and their master away, somewhere desolate. Where before there had been `Bibidi', a pale girl now lay facedown in the dust, having collapsed as the terror drained from her. The relief of dropping her façade was enormous. Angry red patches burned at her throat, wrists and shoulder blades. She relaxed into the dirt, feeling the texture with her fingertips.  
  
Goku soon returned and Buu's ball had been destroyed. But Will didn't know any of this- she had fallen into an exhausted sleep where she lay. 


	8. Chapter 8

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will was lying quietly in bed, curled up with pale knees against her chest and breathing gently. Gohan floated away from the window and took off into the night sky. He'd found himself making this journey more often these days, checking up on her. She always looked so heartrendingly vulnerable, unprotected by her constant aura of sarcasm and humour, always with something to say to fob off the arrival of any illusions of weakness. It was a sight he never tired of, and his new feelings of protectiveness had led him to this bizarre habit. It was difficult to sneak out past Goten, but he'd been sleeping like a log when Gohan flew out of the window. He was worried about Will. Something was wrong- she wasn't her usual self, she was beginning to withdraw from him, becoming more vacant and indifferent. And he didn't know why.  
  
Gohan couldn't explain how he felt about Will. She was his friend, that was certain- his best friend, for that matter. She knew some of his secrets- not all, she still didn't know about his father's unusual heritage- but always understood whatever he was feeling. I wonder if there's a word for that, Gohan pondered as he surfed above the clouds, in one of the faster air currents. Soul mate, he realised with a smile, and grinned to himself. Then he thought of Videl. She was so pretty it embarrassed him, and she always confused him to the point of going crazy. He couldn't tell her his secrets, not without her wanting to learn all the things he could do, not stopping until she could equal or better him. She was... confusing, he thought, and shook his head sharply. He couldn't figure her out, while Will was an open book, cutting all the bull from her conversations that you normally got from girls. So why was he so attracted to both of them?  
  
^^^  
  
Will grimaced as an ache made itself known in her shins, walking to school. It had been coming and going all over her body for a couple of days now, and she knew exactly what it meant. It meant she didn't have long left. The cells were weakening and dying in her muscles like a bizarre cancer, her heritage saw to it. Those that weren't loved or faithful didn't survive...  
  
She'd covered up her pain carefully, but she was certain that Gohan at least had noticed something. He'd been more...mollycoddling, she thought with a slight smile, over the last few days, making sure she was all right. It was actually kind of sweet, but annoyed her when she thought of it as his recognising her fragility. She'd got a note to get off of gym- she'd passed it off to her mother as period pains- and was prepared to carry on until she knew that the day was almost there, and it was time to go before Gohan picked up on what she was doing.  
  
For some reason, Goku hadn't told him about her confession. Perhaps he hadn't believed her. Whatever the reason, it meant she could get away without his feeling guilty over her death. Even if he never knew that she loved him and that was why she died, at least he wouldn't think it was his fault.  
  
Will sighed as she reached the school gates. Time to put on her mask of normality and enter `the clone zone'. Most of the people here were pretty much like each other- all conforming to the social norms, ignoring their own, true selves.  
  
Isn't that what I've been doing by not telling Gohan? She wondered, and mentally kicked herself for the thought. I shouldn't dwell on it, or it'll get worse, she rationalised to herself, and carried on walking. Death comes to everybody, sooner or later.   
  
^^^  
  
Bulma's eyes widened in shock as she took in what her cousin had to say. "You're dying?" she asked in disbelief, and watched in growing horror as Will nodded slowly.  
  
"It's an alien thing, and at least now I think I know why." The elf sat down across from Bulma and pulled an egg from her pocket. The shell was silver, and the light played on it in rainbows and sparkles that didn't seem to belong to this world. It was beautifully crafted, and sat easily in her weakening hand. "This belonged to my great-great-grandmother. The special one."  
  
Bulma picked it up and turned it over, trying to figure out what it was made of. It was light, but yet sat heavily in her hand, well sunken into the pocket of her palm.  
  
"I was looking at it one day, the light hit it at an angle, and it told me a, well, a kind of story. Like a vision. A long time ago, on the elfin home world, there was a civil war. It destroyed over half of the population. The surviving members of the ruling body engineered the remaining elves with intense loyalty. But an unforeseen side effect was that any member of the species could only fall in love once, never having anything with another person, because that would be `cheating' on the first person. And if they weren't loved back..." Will stopped and frowned as prickles wound their way painfully through her flesh, and flexed her hand muscles. They had cramped again, and she spent a few minutes sorting it out before she could continue. "Well, you get the picture. And now, I have a private curse to deal with." She sighed in frustration and stared, wide-eyed at Bulma. "I had to tell somebody. But not him. Not ever. Because then he would blame himself, and I couldn't let  
myself leave him with that pain forever."  
  
Bulma rubbed her temples with her little fingers and grimaced. This was too hard to deal with now, but she had to. She could see that her cousin was becoming a shadow of her former self, and she couldn't let that happen. "Come with me."  
  
Will followed the woman into a room detached from the others in the lab complex and stared in puzzlement at the strange opalescent globe in the middle of the floor. She glanced to the older woman as Bulma began to speak.  
  
"This can keep you alive." The scientist sighed. She'd never wanted to use this, but something had made her keep it. "It recreates your deepest desires and tricks your brain into thinking they're real. Maybe I can cure your...problem by the time you come out."  
  
Will knew it was her only chance. She had to accept.  
  
"Thanks, Bulma." Will climbed into the seat and sat back, pulling the headpiece over her silvery hair and pointed ears, and the universe spun around her.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, in a suit that matched his hair in its darkness. She looked down in confusion and saw her own sparkling dress, silvery and full-skirted, then, in a sudden rush of knowledge, remembered where she was. It was a dance, and she'd gone with Gohan, who had asked her like a real gentleman. She smiled at the memory of those flowers. Picking up the front of her skirt she ran down the steps and over to the smiling man, who kissed her briefly then took her hand and led her to the dance floor, where they swayed with the other couples, whose faces she couldn't quite make out. This is so nice, her mind murmured to itself in happiness, her cheek pressed against his torso and his arms around her. It was so...homelike, and she knew she'd never want to leave this embrace. A trickle of thought came in and whispered sadly, I wish it were real. Will's eyes widened in shock and she pulled away, ripping the headpiece from her body as  
it suddenly became visible, and ran from Capsule Corp, leaving behind a very troubled cousin and a false life that would never really have satisfied her.  
  
^^^  
  
There had been a letter on the kitchen table addressed to him when Gohan got home, and, dumping his schoolbag, he had picked it up and read it. Now he was out yelling Will's name, trying to sense her, praying for her voice to reach him. He couldn't find her mind, she had gone; locked inside herself, or what if she...  
  
`Dear Gohan,  
  
I'm glad it's a nice day. It means you shouldn't be too depressed when you've read this. Though perhaps it would have been better if it was dreary. I don't know. I'm not exactly thinking clearly right now.  
  
You see, there's this alien thing happening to me, and it means that I'm dying. Right now. Yes, I've known for a while. And no, I didn't tell you because you were so happy, what with Videl and your training and-  
  
I'm babbling, but the short version is: I'm dying, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Go to Videl. I know you love her, so the loss of me probably shouldn't bother you too much. Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. It's mine, really, you see. Don't ask how, and just leave me alone now. I don't want you seeing me like this. Really, I mean it.  
  
-Will  
  
P.S. Ego amo te. Ego amo te semper.  
  
"WILL!" 


	9. Chapter 9

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will shuddered in the back corner of the musty, damp cave. This was as far as it went, the deepest place underground. She could feel the earth around her, above her, and the expanse below. The barest glimmer of sunlight alleviated the almost total blackness. She had crawled to this hole to die, a grave for her agony. The dark smoothed wall had tiny wet rivulets seeping down it and she brushed at them with her fine fingernails, trying to wipe away the pain of the rock. But a thousand more droplets crowded, waiting to flood the spot once more. This had been the only place she could think of to hide her wasted body, and she was frightened in her solitude when she knew so well what was happening to her. This had been where that Cell Junior thing had lived, or hidden, or both for all she knew. But it was the only place she knew where she didn't think she could be found.  
  
Will hadn't been able to resist the final `P.S.' on the letter. She had stumbled over an old book of Latin when she had run home to write the note to Gohan, and had put in a phrase she was pretty certain he'd never be able to translate, but would make her feel easier in her mind for telling him. `I love you. I will always love you.' It was almost funny, really, that the only time she ever told him how she felt was in a way he would never recognise. Chichi hadn't taught him Latin, as she knew from conversations with the formidable woman, who nevertheless was one of the nicest people she'd ever met. And now she would die alone, and leave Gohan to Videl. She smiled bitterly. An angel on earth, and to die in agony so young. She thought of children, finding this cave in years to come and seeing her fragile bones, white as her skin. What would be her last word, her last thought? Her mind began to ramble, dozing in preparation of her final sleep.  
  
A scrabbling disturbed her at the back of her mind, and she knew instinctively that it was Gohan, trying to reach out to her mind and discover where she was. Resolutely she closed the contact, giving the seal all of the little she had, but her body betrayed her as her foot twisted and spasmed, and she screamed in pain. The noise echoed around the stones, splitting and multiplying all the way up to the sunlight. Gohan forced the contact open when her concentration wavered and looked through her eyes, seeing where she was.  
  
Will knew he'd been to this cave before, checking for more of the little monsters. She couldn't move now- she was too far-gone. She just had to breathe deeply as spikes gorged into her ribs. All she could do was hope that perhaps she'd be dead before he reached her.  
  
A noise at the cave mouth, and the dim light was blocked by a tall figure. Will sighed in exasperation and struggled to stand up, clenching her teeth at the twisting pain of every movement, her tortured legs barely supporting her as she put out a hand for support to the cave wall. She missed, and started to fall forwards. Damn!   
  
Strong hands caught her by the shoulders and Gohan was standing there in front of her, instants after he had been peering by the doorway.  
  
"You shouldn't be here." Will tried in vain to send more strength into her weakening limbs. "I don't want you seeing me like this." Her voice was barely a whisper, and she struggled for consciousness.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Gohan asked in a low voice, not letting go. He knew that if he let his hands drop, she would succumb to gravity and collapse- and he couldn't shake off the feeling that if that happened, she would shatter into a million grains of white sand.  
  
"Because you would feel guilty for it." Will sighed, and decided to tell him a part of the truth. He obviously wouldn't go away, and perhaps she could make him feel better without lying to him, avoiding the fidelity issues. "I'm in love with somebody. But they don't love me back. And for my species, that means death." She winced as pain arced from his supportive grip, and carried on. "It's a loyalty thing. I can't even feel jealous of my friends, because of the faithfulness. We can only fall in love once, and if we're not loved back, we grieve ourselves to death. And that's why." She looked up at him, and her silvery hair fell back, showing the tips of her pointed ears but, more noticeably, those peculiar eyes set in her thin face that mystified and intrigued him so much.  
  
"You thought I'd be happy with Videl?" he asked bitterly and pulled a crumpled letter from his pocket, supporting her with one hand. "She's leaving to go to America with her father. Hercule reckons he can get more money and fame in the USA." He tightened his grip on the letter, adding to the creases in the paper. Will could see the stinging torture this information brought him.  
  
"You loved her."  
  
"What?" Gohan asked in surprise and looked at Will in shock. "That's why?" he laughed sardonically then looked at her with emotion in his eyes. "I don't know how he can't love you," he told her, avoiding the carefully phrased statement. He stepped closer. "I love you," he said awkwardly, and it was as though a weight was lifted from his chest. He had loved Videl, might have loved Videl, would have if she had stayed, would have realised they didn't belong together, so many possibilities- but they had collapsed and now, he knew didn't feel the same about her as he did about Will. He held her in gentle arms "I won't let you die like my father!" he shouted, and the walls answered, repeating and re-enforcing his resolution. The anger let his hair flare bright and golden, the flaxen colour of the super saiyajins.  
  
"Well, if it's a question of power," Will remarked with a tint of joy in her voice. He loved her! She had been wrong! And therefore, that meant...  
  
Delving inside her mind, she searched for the long buried feeling she had had only a few weeks ago when it had been Gohan's life on the line. She already felt stronger, and she smiled widely as brightly embroidered wings of radiance cast deep shadows from their faces and the ragged indentations of the cave walls. She had her own sunlight to illuminate her grave.  
  
"Stop it! You don't have the energy for this!" Gohan yelled, gripping her shoulders tightly. No pain!   
  
"I do. Now." Will said quietly, her voice caressing each word with happiness. I'm going to live!   
  
"What?" Gohan asked, perplexed, his energy dimming down, but leaving him in his higher state.  
  
"It's true, blondes really are stupid," Will remarked with glee. "You see, it wasn't really my fault I was dying. It was your fault, really, you jerk." Her tone was light and easy, not stinging with insult.  
  
Gohan's face lit with slow realisation, and he embraced her, her head resting on his torso, listening to his calming heartbeat.  
  
Will pressed a hand to her forehead and her eyes flickered. "I may have enough energy, but I think I had better sit down." Her legs gave way and the light dimmed as she fell into a blissful but wearied slumber. 


	10. Chapter 10

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
"Hey! Bulma!"  
  
The blue-haired scientist looked up from her work at the familiar voice. It sounded like...  
  
"You in? If you're not, I'll steal your son while I'm here. I thought he might like to go see Goten."  
  
Bulma stumbled into the kitchen in shock, and looked at the female figure outlined in the doorway. It was Will- thinner and more haggard, but it was Will. "I thought you were..." Bulma stuttered, disbelief on her face. Will had been telling the truth when she told her she was dying- Bulma had watched her grow up, and had always known when Will was lying. Anyway, by Will's own admission, she couldn't lie to people she was friends with.  
  
"Dying?" Will asked, and smiled brightly. "He does love me!" she cried out in glee and her happiness was infectious. "I'm going to live! But I thought I'd take Trunks with me to see Goten and Gohan."  
  
"I'm ready!" the purple-haired boy shouted, pulling on his boot as he hopped through the doorway next to his mom and ran over to Will. "Let's go!"  
  
"Doesn't look like you have much choice, Bulma," Will grinned, and walked out of the door, her second cousin following closely behind.  
  
"Well, shall we drive or what?" Will asked the young boy, who looked up and grinned evilly. He grabbed her by the waist and took off, with her wriggling and squeaking at first then settling down. "I wish you'd tell me when you were going to do that."  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan watched a spot on the horizon as Trunks' and Will's ki's grew stronger, until he saw them in the sky. He frowned slightly when he saw Trunks' arms around Will's waist, then smiled in resignation. They were related, so it was all right. But it still should have been his arms, his hands supporting her so she didn't fall.  
  
"A rather unconventional way of arriving, I know," Will remarked as her feet settled down on the grass, "but Trunks thought it'd be quicker than driving, and he was right."  
  
"Of course I was," Trunks replied brazenly and ran off to play with Goten.  
  
"Training?" Will asked, noticing Gohan's gi. "I have an idea about that..."  
  
^^^  
  
"You are the ones named Trunks and Goten?"  
  
A strange, resonating voice addressed the boys, and as they turned, the bright light made their eyes screw up.  
  
"Yes," Trunks replied after a moment, and the figure smiled. He couldn't see the face, or a particular figure, but the smile opened a gap in the countenance where bluer light was emitted. The owner of the voice glowed, finely traced wide white wings spread, long shining hair pouring out in glittering streams behind. When the boys blinked, the figure was traced in red against their eyelids.  
  
"Good." The hands lifted, and silvered light blasted from the palms, engulfing the small boys who put their arms up to block the attacks. Will knew they wouldn't be able to sense any ki in the attacks- there was none in her light blasts- so it would be interesting to see how they reacted. They couldn't be paying attention, listening to their instincts rather than checking and using their brains.  
  
Trunks and Goten opened their eyes, and Goten stared wide-eyed at the shining figure. "Trunks?" he whispered, poking his friend in the arm, "what is it?"  
  
"I don't know," Trunks replied in shock, for once without a smart answer.  
  
"You haven't been paying attention, have you," Gohan asked, stepping out from behind them and startling the demi-saiyajins, who jumped violently, then turned as quickly as possible when the bright light disappeared.  
  
"You really didn't pay attention," Gohan continued, "or else you would have recognised Will's ki." The mentioned girl laughed, a more normal shape, and grinned condescendingly at her second cousin and his friend.  
  
"Didn't know what to do, did you?" she asked, smiling. She licked her finger and drew an imaginary tally mark in the air. "Will one, boys zero," she remarked with delight, and screamed in mock horror as all three saiyajins yelled, ran at her and began to tickle mercilessly. Gohan laughed as Will squirmed on the floor when they made her choke with laughter. Impulsively, she opened her eyes and kissed Gohan quickly, then chuckled helplessly as Gohan looked on in shock, his expression mirroring that of the smaller boys.  
  
"Eew!" Goten shrieked, echoed by Trunks. "Will kissed Gohan!"  
  
Gohan blushed, but Will grinned. "You sound jealous," she remarked with a sneaky smile. "Don't worry, you can have one too!" She lunged at the boy, giggling and planted a sticky kiss on his hair.  
  
"Yuck!" he squealed and set off to the trees, Will in close pursuit.  
  
The sounds of happy shrieks and shouts eventually reached Chichi on the breeze. She smiled, and it was like she was taken back to her own youth, when Goku was still around.  
  
^^^  
  
"I dunno. Last time I met your friends, I ended up embarrassed," Will replied crossing her legs and leaning back in her desk chair. "And swimming? Can you imagine me in a swimming costume?"  
  
Gohan certainly could, and blushed with the thought as he perched on the window-ledge of his house. "You know why they were surprised last time," he answered and could see her smiling in his mind. The phone trapped tightly between his shoulder and ear, he waved to Goten, who was playing outside, while holding on so he didn't fall out of the window altogether. "Come on. It'll be fun. Bulma's going," he coaxed, and knew she was slowly melting to his persuasion.  
  
Will rolled her eyes with a lopsided smile. She'd known from the beginning that she would give in eventually. May as well save time and yield earlier rather than later. "Alright. I'll come. Where is it?"  
  
"Kame house. It's an island. Actually, it'd probably be better if I came and picked you up first, then we flew." It was an excuse for him to be close to her. Besides, she couldn't fly and it was the quickest way to get there. Gohan blushed again, but ignored it. He was 18 years old, for Kame's sake! He could be married, or even a father by now, so why was he blushing about simply being close to a girl, especially one he loved? It was ridiculous. By now he was strawberry red, and he hated it. It was completely and utterly embarrassing. Which made the situation worse.  
  
"Sure. I don't mind flying, but you'll have to at least try and teach me how one of these days. I may be able to make wings out of light, but I sure can't fly with them."  
  
Gohan's mind groaned in sudden panic. More flying lessons? Videl had been bad enough! He didn't think he could take any more!  
  
"Presumably I'm to bring my swimming stuff. I'll ask Bulma for a Capsule." Will grinned. She knew Gohan was probably blushing right now- he was awful for it, doubtless because of his solitary upbringing, away from other children and that strange species, To boys at least, girls.  
  
"I suppose Vegeta will be there. I can't really complain, but I don't see how Bulma can stand that macho alien. He's so obnoxious!"  
  
Gohan freaked, and actually did fall out of the window. "You know about Vegeta?!" he gasped as he recovered himself and floated back to the sill.  
  
Will frowned. "Yeah, of course. Bulma and me tell each other loads. Why?"  
  
"Um...there's something you should know about my dad, me and Goten..." 


	11. Chapter 11

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Well, there was always something a bit odd about them, Will pondered to herself after she finished talking to Gohan and had hung-up the phone. Guess it's no less believable than my own story. So, Gohan was part alien too. Did it matter? Idly she wondered what that would make any children. Part elf, part human, part saiyajin... she pinched herself, and yelped when it hurt. There. That should stop any thoughts of kids, she told herself with a guilty smile. Yes, Gohan loved her. But they weren't even really boyfriend and girlfriend, in the conventional sense. They both knew how the other felt, and she had kissed him once. That was it. Holding up her swimming costume in front of her alongside the mirror, she began to worry about her figure. Was she too big? Too small? Scrawny? The rich purple material gave a bit of warmth against her pale skin and hair- she was an art student, and had chosen the colour for that precise purpose, not that she wore it much, - but she  
worried about what her body would look like in it. Changing quickly, she gazed at herself in the looking glass. I've filled out a bit since I looked last, she realised with a grin and tilted her head in surprise. Though, now she thought about it, she hadn't really paid any attention to her looks for years now. Getting close to anybody had never been an option before, and Will hadn't cared too much what she looked like before she had Gohan to worry about...  
  
She laughed, and fell backwards onto the bed. It didn't matter too much. She wouldn't be able to give him a lie about not being able to go anyway- not with the whole loyalty curse. So why worry?  
  
^^^  
  
"You move fast, Gohan," Krillin joked as the demi-saiyajin landed with Will. The elf raised one eyebrow, rolled her eyes and concentrated.  
  
Krillin stood slightly more upright. His eyes unfocused. "I'm a big prat," he said, loudly and clearly, before his eyes widened in surprise and he slapped his hand over his mouth.  
  
"Will..." Gohan warned, as she laughed and walked over to her cousin.  
  
"That guy Krillin's too easy," Will remarked and leaned against the wall.  
  
"What did you do?" Bulma asked with interest. She always paid attention to any new powers Will gained, in case she could reproduce them in her gadgets. Anything like that could be very useful.  
  
"Suggested he told everybody he's a big prat," Will told her with obvious relish and a big grin. "Really, far too easy."  
  
"You shouldn't do things like that," Gohan told her, walking over to where the women stood. "It's not nice, and for all you know, Krillin could tell on you."  
  
"I doubt it. If he did, I'd get you to beat him up." Bulma stifled a smile. So this was who Will had been talking about. Well, she had to hand it to the girl; she didn't go for the little fish.  
  
"Anyway, where's Veggie?" Will asked brightly, a false smile pasted on her face. She didn't get along very well with the `Prince', but felt obliged to try for her cousin's sake.  
  
"Lurking inside. He's not feeling social today," Bulma replied, frowning slightly at the use of Vegeta's least favourite nickname. Though now she came to think about it, he didn't have a favourite nickname. Nobody who used a nickname for him lasted long enough to even come up with one he was indifferent to.  
  
"Introduce me," Yamcha told Gohan aside from the other conversation.  
  
"Will, this is Yamcha," Gohan informed the elf, who smiled and shook hands with the ex-desert-bandit. "Yamcha, Will."  
  
"I'm the elf," Will told him, trying to avoid awkward situations in the future. "Nice to meet you."  
  
Gradually, Will was introduced to each of the present fighters. She was received with caution, as an outsider, unknown and therefore dangerous, but they trusted Gohan's judgement by now. Besides, she was friendly enough- but still, you couldn't be too careful. Will sighed with exasperation. She could tell they hadn't really accepted her- well, apart from Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Bulma, along with possibly Vegeta. It was infuriating! She stood up from where she sat on the couch and sighed.  
  
"Alright. You don't trust me and I don't know if I can trust you." The corner of her mouth twitched in a wry grin. "I assume I can trust you- Gohan says I can, and that's good enough for me. Plus you have reason to be suspicious of me. It's not like all the aliens you've met are friendly." That earned a few chuckles- saying that not all of the aliens they had met were friendly was an understatement of about the same level as `Marilyn Manson is a fairly unusual guy.' Will proceeded to recite her explanation of what she was- nearly identical to the day she had told Gohan. Eyes widened around the room- not too much, because they were used to things like this- but when she was done, she sat back down, and could feel the tension seep out of the air. That did the trick.   
  
Goten ran in, closely followed by Trunks. He had flown over on Icarus- the dragon certainly knew the way by now- and was already dripping wet. "Isn't this supposed to be a swimming party?" the small demi-saiyajin asked, receiving grins. Will got up and brushed herself down.  
  
"When you're right, you're right, Goten," she replied with the smile she saved for him and Trunks. "I'm coming. Anybody else?"  
  
^^^  
  
Will waved goodbye as Gohan flew off, then grimaced and unlocked the door, walking in with obvious distaste. Her parents were still arguing- it didn't sound like they'd stopped since they woke up that morning. She hadn't let Gohan come anywhere near the door, this morning or even this evening. She didn't need him to know about her home troubles.  
  
Hanging up her coat, she cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled. "'Kasaan! `Tousan! I went to Belgium, got raped, had triplets on the couch but I'm back now!"  
  
No replies. They should have heard- but all their attention was on the other's red, angry face. It had been like this for over a year. With a moan of reluctance, she walked to the sitting room and pushed the door open. Yes- they were there. Why can't they stop arguing? She wondered in deep melancholy. It was killing her inside, to have them brawl over the littlest of things that had never bothered them before. She couldn't help but wonder if it was her fault.  
  
"Damn you!" the shouting was louder. It sounded like the argument was about `tousan's new car. "We can't afford it!"  
  
Will snapped. With a feral scream, she dived into the room and stood between her parents, eyes wide with instinctive rage. "STOP IT!" she yelled, and her parents ceased in mid cry. The silence was deafening, but Will welcomed it as a blanket over aching ears. "You will not argue until I come back down," the elf said in menacing tones, then stomped up the stairs, followed by the eerie hush. She picked up the phone and made a call, grabbed some stuff, shoved it into a bag then returned to where her parents stood, flushes fading as the screaming had just minutes before.  
  
"I'm leaving," she announced, and cut them off before they started with wild glares from her deeply coloured and once again freezingly green eyes. "You can reach me at school. I'm not telling you where I'm going, and I'm not coming back until you sort out your differences. I just can't take it any more!"  
  
The front door slammed, and Will was gone. The voices began again, blaming each other for her departure as she walked away, leaving the arguments to themselves.  
  
(AN: Thanks to everybody who reviewed! That's:  
  
just me  
  
SSJ hearTHrob   
  
Starstep- wins the prize for my fave reviewer!  
  
and Lunar.  
  
I'd also like to thank my friend Susan, who edits for me. She's my bestest friend, and a great author!  
  
I have received a comment that my fic seems a little mary-suish... may I assure you that I am brash, rude, loud and have very rounded ears? Honestly, I don't know, readers these days... you try and create a nice OC, and all they do is complain (lol!) 


	12. Chapter 12

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
"Thanks again for letting me stay, Bulma," Will said warmly as she put her bag down on the guest bed. "Things just aren't... stable right now at home."  
  
Bulma smiled, then turned and left the room. The smile faded as she thought of her uncle and aunt. They'd been fighting for a long time now, longer than she could remember, but it had only recently become this bad. Before, they had kept it from Will. But now she knew, and it was tearing her apart from the inside out.  
  
Will grimaced as soon as Bulma's back was turned. She was grateful, but she wished she hadn't had to do this to her parents. She'd heard them begin arguing again as soon as the front door was closed. They obviously didn't care about her as much as she'd thought, if they immediately started again with the very thing that had pushed her away. Flicking her hair over her shoulder, she brushed it quickly, ignoring the tugging pain that tried to regain her attention. If they could forget her that easily, then she wouldn't think about them. Ever again.  
  
^^^  
  
Will looked up from her lunch as the door swung open and then closed again. A lump formed in her throat as she watched her mother approach her table, then sit down in the empty seat across from her daughter. Her face was emotionless, but a clenched fist showed her tension. Blinking back angry tears, Will sat up straight and stared coldly at her parent, eyes blazing death rays. The pale clothes she had worn that morning made her look like a sculpture carved from ice.  
  
Gohan looked up from the counter as he bought his lunch and saw the friction between the two. He'd felt it radiating from Will's mind- and now some woman was sitting across from her. He could guarantee that she was the cause of Will's displeasure. Walking over with his tray, he sat down beside the elf and let her lean on him, giving support in a way unobvious to another's eye.  
  
"Will, honey? Come home," she was saying, as Will's face became harder and more implacable.  
  
"No, `kasaan. Not until you and `tousan stop fighting and sort out your differences," Will replied, straining to keep the pain from her voice. So now Gohan knew. But it didn't matter- he was there, warm by her side, supporting her and giving her courage. "Please go, `kasaan." Her mother stood, and the affliction was plain on her face. Will hated to hurt her like this, but it was necessary if she was going to sort out her home life.  
  
When the woman had gone, Gohan turned to look at Will with pity in his eyes. She sighed and buried her face in his shirt for a moment, then sat up and began to eat her lunch, shoulders slumped and eyes down-turned. Without asking any questions, Gohan understood and ate his own lunch, well aware of her small weight against his shoulder.  
  
^^^  
  
"She's staying with Bulma, but Vegeta is being his usual obnoxious self," Gohan informed his mother in between mouthfuls. "She hates it, but apparently it's not as bad as it was at home."  
  
Chichi frowned in consternation. It obviously bothered Gohan to see her like this, and it bothered her. Will was a nice girl, good for Gohan- studious, and related to rich people. The fact that she herself was best friends with the rich people didn't matter to Chichi. But the girl was sweet and polite, and being bothered by that...that disgustingly repulsive saiyajin Bulma had married. Well...one man's meat is another man's poison, Chichi thought, but she still couldn't understand what Bulma saw in Vegeta. She couldn't let the girl languish there when that man kept having a go at her.  
  
"She can stay with us," she announced, to shocked looks from both sons. "Gohan, you can sleep on a pallet, and Will can have your bed."  
  
"'Kasaan?" Gohan asked, the relief he felt at being able to get Will away from Vegeta battling with reluctance to give up his own bed. The thought that they could share crossed his mind briefly, and he lowered his head to his bowl to prevent them from seeing his blush. "Fine, `Kasaan. Shall I tell her now?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I can send her a telepathic message," Gohan explained, and crossed his fingers, hoping it was true. He could, sometimes, if she was in a receptive mood, but if she wasn't, it was like trying to yell through custard. Dense, solidified custard.  
  
Will? He tried, but could tell that one hadn't gone anywhere. # Will? #   
  
Will blinked and opened a mind channel. # Gohan? Is that you? #   
  
Gohan grinned. He'd reached her! He had to be getting better at this. # `Kasaan says you can come stay with us, # he told her, and could feel her delight through the mental bond.  
  
# Sure! Just let me go tell Bulma, and I'll get a cab, # Will replied in glee, and closed the contact.  
  
"Bulma, Gohan says I can stay at their house," she told her cousin. "I don't want to stay and impose on you, and I know Vegeta loves his privacy..."  
  
Bulma grinned. She knew exactly why Will would prefer to stay with Gohan, and her main reason had nothing to do with Vegeta. "Sure, Will. If you need anywhere to stay, you know you can come back any time."  
  
Still smiling, Will packed her bags and hailed a cab.  
  
^^^  
  
"Thanks, Chichi," Will said again, coming out of the bathroom and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "Vegeta was driving me up the wall, that arrogant-!"  
  
"It's nothing," Chichi told her with a smile. "Gohan and Goten like having you here- or Gohan will when he's back from his super heroing."  
  
"Where's he going to sleep?" Will asked, seeing that she was expected to sleep in his bed. "I don't like to displace him-"  
  
"He's got a pallet on the floor," Chichi told her, seeing the worry on the elf's face. "He's slept in worse- when he was four, Piccolo left him out in the wilderness for a year, and he slept on the ground. A pallet is like a thousand pillows compared to that."  
  
Will smiled uncertainly but climbed into the bed next to that of the younger saiyajin, who was asleep already but wriggling in his sleep. It would be nice to see Gohan when she woke up.  
  
^^^  
  
The tall, beautiful woman walked along the shoreline, the gauzy material of her sarong shimmering in beautiful hues of green and blue in the sunlight and trailing in the warm water. Long chestnut curls streamed down her back, and the sparkle of the silver embroidery flickered in her green eyes. She turned with a start as a young boy of seven years appeared behind her, a bush of black hair trailing behind him, and her tanned skin and hair immediately bleached to their natural silver-white colours. Will stared at the young Gohan for an instant before she shrank to a youthful girl of about the same age, her hair losing a lot of its volume until the points of her ears protruded through the soft fibres. The eyes were wide and haunted, but most of all: lonely. Gohan stared at her, seeing the younger version of the elf he knew and the emotional damage wreaked upon her by fear and isolation. After a moment, the teenager Will was back, hiding the emotions she had just shown so  
blatantly. Gohan shot up to his current age and height, a teenager once again. But the image of the little girl was burned into his mind. Was that my imagination, or is that actually Will? He wondered, and walked towards her.  
  
"Gohan?" she asked quietly. "What are you doing in my dream? I know you're real."  
  
"What are you doing in mine?" he asked softly, gathering her into his arms. Even if it was really her, it was still a dream and he could do what he liked. He kissed her deeply, as he'd wanted to for so long, but had always been too shy and embarrassed to do.  
  
"I think I'm dreamwalking," Will whispered breathlessly when he pulled away. "We're sharing this dream." Gohan's mind caught slightly on the word `dreamwalking'- there was some reason it was important, wasn't there?- but he ignored it when he couldn't come up with any memories of it.  
  
"Then let's exploit it," Gohan said with a grin. This would be fun.  
  
^^^  
  
Will walked into the house, closely followed by Gohan. She had been staying with them for just over a week, and already she felt almost as if she belonged there. Will wished that she did. It would be so much nicer than knowing that, eventually, she would have to go back to her arguing parents.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
Will looked over to see Gohan pick a letter up from the kitchen table. She saw the postmark before he did. It was from the USA. Videl, her mind whispered, and she could feel her heart stiffen in despair. Videl had written to Gohan, he would realise that Videl had been the one he loved, she would be left on the sidelines...  
  
The emotions flashed briefly in her eyes as she watched him open the envelope and pull out the folded paper inside. These last few days had been so good- sharing dreams, him kissing her where nobody could see and neither of them could be suddenly embarrassed...  
  
Will took a deep breath, and tried to make herself look normal. "I'm just gonna go dump my bag," she said with a falsely bright ring to her tone that Gohan failed to pick up on. She left the room, still cursing the unlucky star she must have been born under.  
  
`Dear Gohan-  
  
How are you? I hope you're well. Otousan and I are doing fine in the USA- it's a little strange and the accents are hard to understand when you've lived in Japan all your life, but it's beginning to feel like home. It's hard to believe I've only been here a month.  
  
How's Goten? How's your mom? And most importantly, are you seeing anybody? If you are, I have a feeling I know who it is! People were placing bets on you at school, you know.  
  
How's Will? She was looking a little pale when I left- was she ill?  
  
What happened about that `Babidi' thing? You never told me. I guess I must have forgotten to ask.' She hadn't- she had asked Gohan constantly. It had been all could do to fob off the question! `Anyway, I have to go. Reply soon, okay? I missed talking to you. Yours, Videl.'  
  
^^^  
  
Will had been strangely distant ever since they got home. Gohan sat and watched from the corner of his eye as she did her homework- something they had done together since she'd arrived and he'd been put onto her course of `do this, it'll keep you busy' work. Why won't she talk to me? He wondered with a grimace. I didn't do anything! Standing up, he pressed the button on his watch and his outfit changed to that of the Great Saiyaman. He had to go out and patrol anyway- the police had had it a lot harder since Videl had left. Besides, it wasn't like there was going to be much happening at home, with Will in this strangely reticent mood. He left, closing the door behind him before Will could say goodbye. 


	13. Chapter 13

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Gohan walked into the house, half-asleep on his feet from his exertions as a peacekeeper. Tossing the costume over the chair in front of his desk, he stripped to his boxers and climbed into his bed, forgetting about the pallet. He had been upgraded to a queen-sized when his `kasaan had realised that his feet reached over the end of the mattress, and didn't notice the slender figure beside him before he fell into a deep sleep.  
  
^^^  
  
Will spun around to see Gohan's familiar frame behind her. The long, full skirt hit her in the back of the legs as it finally caught up with her body's movement, and she stumbled. "You're in late. Busy night?"  
  
"Yeah." Gohan looked at her carefully. She seemed alright now- her usual, free-talking self. Not the reticent, quiet girl she had been earlier that night.  
  
"Well, you're here now." Will grinned. It was easier here to forget about Videl- she couldn't get him here, not in the dreams that they shared. "Care to dance?"  
  
Gohan looked around them, and recognised the school hall, decorated for the prom on Saturday. They weren't going- as Will had put it, the school was full of people who would make assumptions, seeing as Will was living at his house for the time being. And if they were there together...  
  
"Don't worry, I won't imagine Sharpener into existence," Will teased, then gasped as he kissed her.  
  
"I would love to dance," Gohan whispered. Imagining himself not embarrassed and completely at ease around her was easy enough. It was a shame he couldn't do that in the real world- he still found himself embarrassed at kissing her. It all comes through not having much to do with girls when I was growing up, Gohan thought to himself. Small wonder, when Bulma scared me half to death with her threats of annihilation!   
  
Will smiled and grabbed his hand, which she placed around the small of her back, then placed her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. This is almost identical to the dream-world Bulma's machine created for me, she thought with a small sigh of contentment. But for some reason, he felt closer than he normally did in their dreams, almost as if they were physically as close as they were mentally. She didn't know that they were sleeping right beside each other back in the Son house.  
  
The music slowed, and she looked up only to be kissed again. # This is nice, # her mind whispered, then she cried out aloud. It was the first time she had tried mind-speaking to him while they kissed in the dream-world, and it was as though a dam had opened in her mind, with a torrent of emotion hitting her full in the face. She could see everything that had ever happened to him, feel everything that had ever happened to him. It felt almost like she did when she used telepathy, but deeper, more instinctive and binding. Myriads of brilliantly coloured stars rushed past her vision, sparkling like jewels and burning their images into her eyes. His emotions branded themselves into her mind, her understanding of his very being, his soul deepening as the connection intensified, sending her mind into an uncontrollable spasm of overload. She knew the same was happening to him- his confusion magnified hers, until she couldn't tell up from down- if there was an up or down here,  
wherever here was. Waves of his love for her swamped her consciousness, along with his terror when she had almost died, his joy when she hadn't, his pain at the death of his father...  
  
And then, they were sitting alone together in a small café with cups of steaming coffee on the table between them. Will stared around wide-eyed at their surroundings. She could feel Gohan inside her head, his emotions and hers slightly blurred at the edges where they merged and became one. "What just happened?" she asked, and felt rather than saw his own confusion.  
  
"I don't know." Gohan looked out of the window. He could still feel all of her memories, but could hardly remember any of them. They were a faint recollection; something seen in a dream that he had woken from refreshed and rejuvenated.  
  
"I think..." Will began, slowly, as though still puzzling something out. "I think you do know. I think I  
  
saw it when...whatever it was that happened...happened."  
  
"I do?" Gohan frowned, and thought deeply. There had been something...when she had said dreamwalking, the first time they did this, there had been...  
  
"Gohan?" She asked shakily, and he turned to look at her. "I know. I don't know how the bloody hell I know, but..." He could feel her frustration. "It's something to do with Vegeta."  
  
That was it! "I remember! He had this sudden fit of responsibility, and tried to tell me about being a saiyajin!" He smiled, happy to regain the memory. "He said that saiyajins form mental bonds with their...soul mate, I think...and that it begins with dreamsharing, after a tentative reaching out has been made."  
  
"My telepathy!" Will exclaimed, her emotions lightening as understanding dawned.  
  
"I guess."  
  
"So now what, we're mentally bonded?" Will asked unbelievingly. "What a weird species you are."  
  
"What about you?" Gohan asked, before realising that she had been joking. The emotion-ball was getting gradually easier to read, but was still a little difficult. Women were complicated.  
  
"I guess," she admitted. "You have to admit, this is pretty freaky. To be honest, it's given me the wiggins."  
  
"I know," Gohan replied absently. "Don't forget, I know everything now."  
  
"That could be embarrassing," Will remarked, taking a sip of the coffee. It was strong- just what she needed after a shock like that. "It was beautiful, though."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Gohan asked quietly, watching her intently. She didn't seem bothered by it, but he didn't want to be imposing a connection upon her that she didn't want...  
  
"Hmm. I guess we cou-" Will disappeared with a small `pop' and Gohan groaned. She'd woken up, and now he was stuck here alone until he awoke himself. "Great. Just great."  
  
^^^  
  
Will opened her eyes slowly, blinking in the sudden onrush of light. She blinked, and spots floated in her retinas. Lights! The bonding...She vaguely remembered being in a conversation, but then...  
  
"Damn," she whispered vehemently to herself. "I woke up, didn't I." It was then that she became aware of the body next to her. Looking over her shoulder, she could see Gohan dozing, his arm around her shoulders, which she had assumed was the heavy blanket. He must have forgotten that he was sleeping on the pallet now. Smiling slightly, she tried to wriggle out from his grip. If Chichi came in and saw them like that, clothed or no, she'd throw a fit. Gohan's arm tightened around her shoulders as he felt her try to leave, and she sighed. She wouldn't mind waking up like this every morning, but it was better for now if she got up and left him there. Sending waves of calm and reassurance, she managed to squirm out of his grip to crouch on the floor. Grabbing her clothes, she headed for the bathroom and, for good measure, locked the door to disprove any suspicions Chichi might have had.  
  
^^^  
  
School was fairly dull, as usual. Gohan was doing the pointless `make-work' given to him and Will by the teachers- again. Will was bored as well- he could feel it, and the emotions bouncing together magnified themselves until neither of them could stand doing it any more.  
  
# How pointless is this? # Will asked with a mental sigh. # It's boring the points off of the top of my ears. #   
  
# Yeah, I know, # Gohan replied, rolling his eyes. # Why can't they just let us go? We've done all the work on the syllabus, and this is useless waste of school resources! #   
  
# Hmm. Perhaps... # Will grinned. # A diversion, and we can ditch? #   
  
# What did you have in mind? # Gohan asked, with a lopsided smile.  
  
# Perhaps a little... light show? # Will asked in a carefully innocent tone. Luckily, Gohan had the foresight to close his eyes before he gave his answer. Will screwed up her eyes and gave a little grunt of effort as a huge burst of light enveloped everything in the room, scaring the lab mice into a chittering frenzy in the corner and making the class scream in shock.. Before she knew it, Gohan had grabbed her hand, eyes still closed tightly and raced for the door, letting it close before the teacher or anyone else recovered enough to see them go.  
  
^^^  
  
"What shall we do?" Will asked, kicking an empty soda can. It skittered across the deserted pavement and came to rest in the middle of the road, before being flattened brutally by a Land Rover. "School was dull as ditch-water, but now we're lost for anything to do."  
  
"Well, firstly we're going to really catch it from my `kasaan," Gohan replied with a grimace. "She'll kill me!"  
  
"Not if I pull another light-trick and we run for it," Will replied lightly, but Gohan could tell that she knew it was pointless. There was no escape from an incensed Chichi. They carried on their aimless walk despondently.  
  
"Will?"  
  
The teenagers turned around and Will paled as she saw her okasaan approach. Gohan could feel her apprehension- he knew all about her feelings for her parents' situation, and he could understand her reaction totally. It was no surprise that she didn't want to see them when all they did was argue with one another.  
  
"Will, I went to the school, and they said you'd left," the woman continued hesitantly, her eyes flickering towards Gohan. # She doesn't know about...us, # Will thought, as Gohan picked up the comment. "I came looking for you."  
  
"'Kasaan, we're not going back," Will started, putting on a brave face. "It's boring. All they give us is useless, easy stuff."  
  
"I don't want you to," Will's mother continued, her face softening as she looked at her daughter. "I just want to talk to you." Her eyes turned pointedly towards Gohan. "Alone."  
  
"'Kasaan, anything you tell me Gohan will know," Will remarked. "He knows everything anyway."  
  
"Well...your father and I have agreed to talk through the issue, but we want you there," a hesitant beginning came, and she continued, "We want you to come home, honey. We want you there with us. We want to know where you are."  
  
Will looked stricken- her heart thudded against her ribcage. Leave Gohan? Go...back? Already she felt that her true home was in the Son house, not with her parents. It never had been- they had never really understood how she felt. They weren't freaks; they only had a freak for a daughter, and she had always known that however much they loved her, they still wished that she had been normal. That she had been human and inconspicuous. Not a misfit elven girl with pointed ears and a low pain threshold.  
  
"Um...when?" she stammered, and tried ineffectually to cover it up. Gohan squeezed her hand, and she stood up straight. "When should I come?"  
  
"Tomorrow, if you could come home after school," her mother replied, not seeing her reluctance, though it was written plainly on her face. She only saw what she wanted to see.  
  
"To- tomorrow?" Will managed, and felt Gohan's mind stutter the same syllables. "Um...fine," the elf responded weakly. "See you then." she walked away with her legs only supported by the strength of her shock.  
  
(AN: I have a horrible confession to make: I'm not just getting these out quickly. I finished it in January, before actually publishing... I know absolutely everything that's gonna happen, cos I already wrote it! Mwahaha... I just love to leave you on cliffhangers, that's all!) 


	14. Chapter 14

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
"Tomorrow?" Chichi asked, her eyes widening, and echoed by Goten. "But we can't even have a proper send-off...I'm taking Goten to sleepover at Trunks' and Bulma's house, and he won't sleep if I don't stay there..." she trailed off slowly. It was true- this had been planned the week before, and it couldn't really be put off, not if they didn't want Trunks to throw a super-saiyajin tantrum.  
  
"It's alright, Chichi, I'll just study or something. I need to pack, so really..." Will's voice petered out, reflecting the mood in the room of reluctant regret. "Besides, I need to think about what on earth I'm supposed to say to my parents."  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan glanced at the chair where Will sat, curled into a ball with a book grasped like a lifeline in her fingers. It was randomly open, and she hadn't turned a page for the last ten minutes. She was trying to forget about her parents, but every time she looked around she remembered. She was leaving this house to go back to the scene of so many arguments and controversies.  
  
"Oh, stuff it," Will suddenly cried from where she sat, flinging the book angrily across the room where it slammed into a wall, pages askew and slid down to land on the floor with a muffled thump, creased and spread-eagled, like some obscene, many-winged dead moth. "I can't forget it, so why bother trying?"  
  
Gohan gestured, and she came over to sit in his arms, laying her head on his chest. "Why do I have to go back?" she whispered quietly, so he could barely hear it, close as her mouth was to his ear. "I want to stay here with you," she continued after a short silence.  
  
"I want you to stay too," Gohan replied in his usual volume. After all, there was nobody else to hear, so why be quiet? Goten and Chichi were gone an hour ago, so they didn't have to keep quiet. "I want to know when you stub your toe, when you bump into somebody, when you're happy," he murmured, smoothing her hair and forgetting his resolve to talk normally. "But there's a way to sort that last one out." Will saw his intentions in his mind, and, surprised at his unusually forward solution, smiled in assent.  
  
(AN: Ok, the next chapter is a lemon. I know, I know... but here's the lay of the land. I'm a stubborn idiot who can't refuse a challenge, and my friend (who I now recognise as a complete hentai!) challenged me to put in a lemon. So, here it is- I can't believe I wrote it, but as you can see, I did. If this kinda thing offends you, then skip it. It doesn't matter either way, cos the storyline still makes sense! So, your choice.) 


	15. Chapter 15

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
(AN: Ok, this chapter is a lemon. I know, I know... but here's the lay of the land. I'm a stubborn idiot who can't refuse a challenge, and my friend (who I now recognise as a complete hentai!) challenged me to put in a lemon. So, here it is- I can't believe I wrote it, but as you can see, I did. If this kinda thing offends you, then skip it. It doesn't matter either way, cos the storyline still makes sense! So, your choice.)  
  
They rose together. His hands were awkward on the buttons of her shirt as they stood, pulling each other towards the bedroom with a series of brief, alluring kisses, but by the time they reached the door they were both virtually down to their underwear, clothes discarded untidily onto the floor. She kicked away her skirt with one foot, fumbling for the handle behind her that pressed into her back. His breath came faster, looking at her like that- he could see so much of the exquisite curves of her breasts, nipples hard against silky fabric, and of the milky skin of her belly and legs. Though not as much as he now wanted. Kissing her hungrily, he backed her up until the back of her knees hit the bed and she tripped over, falling onto her back with him following her, Will giggling wildly between fervent kisses.  
  
Gohan's hands fumbled with the catch on her bra, unable to get it undone while he quivered with pent-up anticipation, hands trembling in his haste to undress her. Will grinned against his lips, and arched her back, pressing those oh-so-desirable breasts into his chest as her hand moved behind her back and loosened the clasp easily, to have the lacy material discarded quickly and Gohan's lips move to meet the revealed flesh. She moaned slightly and ran her fingers weakly through his tousled hair, feeling her body respond to his touch, growing moist, begging her to take him into her body, to let him have his way with her. Vaguely she wondered if she would reply so eagerly to another man, but that thought was abandoned as his tongue flicked across the hollow at the base of her neck, across the sensitive light-gland that was so receptive to touch, making her cry out at her inflamed urges.  
  
Gohan could feel himself pressed against her leg, hard and swelling with his own arousal. All that kept him from her were two flimsy layers of material, but oh, how far it felt to his desperate longing. Since they had made the mental bond, he had wanted her worse than ever. Not just in their dreams, where physical touch never rang true. For some reason, it had become much easier to fantasise about her, and now any awkwardness he had felt was gone as he touched her skin, so soft beneath his roaming fingers that she let caress her anywhere he pleased.  
  
Will's lips met his own again, in a reckless kiss of desire and lust. Yes, they loved one another, but teenage hormones and an undeniable craving accompanied their ardour for each other.  
  
Will could feel his emotions building inside her own head across the bond, matching her own and increasing as they mingled and swirled together, mounting ecstasy in both minds. Trying to stifle a cry, she bit into his shoulder, and could feel her own surprise at this action as he returned the gesture, though more carefully than she did. It was going to be harder for her to take a chunk out of him than it was for him to do the same for her.  
  
Gohan's questing tongue ran down her cleavage, and Will moaned incoherently and leant into the touch, longing for his hands to feel her more, those magic fingers that awoke such new hungers in her being.  
  
"Gohan..." her voice made him shiver deliciously, hearing his own desire reflected in that one word. God, but she was beautiful like this. Each of her cries made his ardour swell more- and his manhood. They each knew exactly what the other wanted. He let his hand run down her side and she drew in a sharp breath as her skin trembled into goosebumps under his fingers. Her reddened lips touched his naked skin, soft and pliant against his chest. She hadn't realised how physically strong he was before seeing him here, before feeling his arms around her body and the muscles tight beneath his skin, handling her body so expertly with his instincts, and her unconscious direction. She hadn't realised the delicious potential for danger, or how simply erotic it was to have a man this strong in love with you and wanting you this badly.  
  
Gohan couldn't stand it any longer. With her help, he pulled off his boxers, leaving only her thin panties as a last point of turning back. But both of them were too far gone now- losing the control he had had with her breasts, he ripped the side of the leg and yanked them off, leaving her naked and ready for his attentions. Her arms wrapped around his neck, she kissed him again as he spread her legs with one hand and wedged one knee under each of her thighs, almost out of control now, only just remembering to be careful with her, her body as fragile as it was. She smiled and he returned the look, then pushed himself into her body.  
  
Will cried out his name in shocked eros. He was so large, so large inside her body that she wondered momentarily if she would split open down the middle. But the ecstasy of their joining and parting and meeting again...  
  
Gohan moaned against her, feeling her soft inner walls squeezing his manhood, and her hands reassuring and encouraging him on, pulling him further into her body. He was reeling- she was his first, and he had heard that often the first time wasn't pleasant for either party, but here he was in rapture as he pushed himself into her, feeling himself swell more in this new arousal.  
  
Will could sense him ejaculating into her, and she knew she could get pregnant from this. But with his mouth on her neck and his hands on her body, she didn't really care right now. She'd think about it in the morning. Unintentionally, her hand moved down to where they joined wetly at the hips, and she could feel him moving in and out of her, hard and slick against her fingers as she lost her virginity willingly to him and his seductive attraction. Gohan growled at the touch and pushed himself deeper into her body, as Will's outcries gave his name to the sky, the name of the man who used her so blatantly easy to determine. She could feel him still, hard and implacable inside her body, but sliding in and out with ease and joining her in screams of their joint thrill and rapture at the act they were committing. Will ran her hands down the muscles of his chest, where they were taut and hard with his effort as he pressed and thrusted against her body, glistening under their  
slick sheen of moisture. His hands caressing her breasts as she ran her palms down his back to his groans of arousal, caressing the sensitive area where his tail had once been.  
  
Gohan groaned finally and pulled away from her, falling exhausted from their commitment onto the bed beside her and pulling her body into a close, possessive embrace until there was no space between them, but skin touching flesh and eyelashes fluttering against soft skin, closed in fatigue. 


	16. Chapter 16

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will tensed slightly in his arms, smiling whilst murmuring vaguely in her sleep, as Gohan gazed down at her. Her hair tickled his face as it flowed onto the pillow and glistened over her like a silvered coverlet. There was so much of it, but it was soft, fine and beautiful.  
  
He had remembered what else Vegeta had told him- about the two types of bond. The mental bond- hard to achieve, and so hard to break or ignore- and the physical bond, formed in the physical world, rather than a universe of dreams.  
  
She had given herself to him, and he to her, and as they lay together all feelings of awkwardness departed. It had been so natural, to lie there with her in his bed. Her soft skin brushed his as she shifted to a more comfortable position for her sleep. She was so slim, so frail... he had been so careful not to break her, to let her shatter into sand, like she had been so close to doing that time in the cave. She was so finely delicate he had been afraid he would hurt her...  
  
Will's eyes flicked open, and she looked straight into his adoring gaze as she remembered what had happened. Her face lit up in a smile, and she kissed him briefly, then lay her head down onto his shoulder as he lay back. Though she hated to admit it, she felt safe here. Protected. She was breakable, she knew all too well, but not here. Not with Gohan.  
  
"We'd better get up," she whispered hoarsely, her voice out of practice from sleep. There had been no shared dreams last night- exhaustion, both mental and physical, had given them a quiet night's slumber. She yawned widely, screwing her eyes shut. "It'll be time for school."  
  
"We don't have to go in," Gohan murmured cheekily, and nuzzled her neck softly with his nose.  
  
Will giggled like a schoolgirl, then put on a mock-serious face. "You know what the gossips at school will be saying if we don't turn up, bright and early in the morning, especially after ditching yesterday."  
  
"Hmm. I guess." They could easily imagine the "Will x Gohan" myths already springing up like mushrooms. Gohan gave her a little push and she toppled out to land on the floor in a tangle of limbs and sheet. She sorted out head from sheet and managed a dampened "Hey!" through the hair in her mouth before the blanket hit her in the face and muffled her indignant complaints. Shoving it from where it covered her head, she laughed and tried unsuccessfully to drag Gohan off the mattress by the ankle. "Oh, that's not fair!" she cried in pretended distress. "And now I have to try and get up too!"  
  
^^^  
  
School had been nearly unbearable. All Will could think of was the fact that she was going home to her parents, not flying with Gohan over the mountains to the one place she had ever really felt that she belonged to. Back to her life of screaming and arguments, where her parents ignored her needs in order to kick the hell out of each other. She couldn't stand it, but yet she had to- they had agreed to try, and she had to help them. But it didn't feel right, knowing that Gohan wouldn't be there.  
  
And now, unlocking the door and walking in slowly, her bag dragging slightly on the floor behind her, she wondered how the house could be so quiet. The door closed by itself behind her, banging shut and making her jump in paranoid surprise. She had forgotten the spring on the door. Anything could be the beginning of another argument.  
  
"Will?" She heard the voices of her parents raised in questioning unison, and watched numbly as they came out into the hall to greet her. It wasn't right. Gohan wasn't there. It wasn't right.  
  
"Let me take that for you, honey," her mother took her bag and jacket, hanging them up on the peg that had been empty for two weeks. She could smell her mother's pasta cooking as a background to her parent's `happy reunion' comments. She had always loved pasta. But it still wasn't right. It wasn't home. Home was where the heart was, right? Well, her heart was five hours drive away.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan couldn't help but feel like he was missing a limb. The house was cold and empty, despite Chichi and Goten being there. Will wasn't, and that was all that made the difference. He needed her to be here, to make smart comments and tickle Goten and help Chichi cook dinner. But she wasn't- she was at home, her real home, and she wasn't happy at all. Even all this way away, it felt like there was no distance between their minds. She was desperately wishing for a place to escape to, away from her parents and their false joviality. And he couldn't give it to her- he had to leave her there, unhappy or not.  
  
"Gohan?"  
  
He turned to see Chichi looking at him oddly. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I don't know," he answered quietly, frowning slightly. "I think so."  
  
Chichi's brows met in the centre of her forehead, as she watched her oldest son go into his bedroom to do his homework. If what she suspected was true, it would explain an awful lot. Such as when Gohan would turn in Will's direction a few seconds before she opened her mouth to speak or entered a room, and how sure Will always was that Gohan hadn't met with a horrible accident when out in the city being the `Great Saiyaman'. Yes, it would explain an awful lot.  
  
^^^  
  
Will sat blankly in her tidied room, hands twisting unoticed in a futile effort to distract herself. The desk- chair dug painfully into the back of her knees. She found vague comfort in the cool pain, something to think about. It would make bruises, she knew, but she didn't care. Everybody at school believed she had mild osteoporosis anyway, with a similar condition in her skin. It was a good enough way to explain how she became bruised and broken so easily.  
  
Chocolate wasn't helping. The caffeine affected her more than it did humans, but still nothing. Zilch. Nada. Her homework lay neatly on the table. She had spent ten minutes organising it into strict alignment. But she hadn't even picked up her pen, except to lay it in synchronisation with the edge of her text book. The teachers wouldn't care- it wasn't part of their contract to give her extra work because they'd run out of things to teach. One less bit to mark. One less student to worry about.  
  
Where was Gohan? Somewhere in the city, she could tell. Not that far away, but busy, probably saving people's lives. He'd saved her life before. When was that? She wondered vacantly. Gohan... She felt as though she was trapped between wakefulness and sleep, the time where every noise is too loud, painfully clear, but making near to no sense. Where randomness reigns, where false memories grow. Somewhere inside her head, something was screaming at her to get her act together. She was letting herself get lax and stupid, just because her bond-partner wasn't there. It was just pathetic.  
  
At the word pathetic, she snapped back into full awareness. It was easier in anger. She wasn't pathetic! She didn't need Gohan just to be conscious! The indignant part of her mind cheered as she regained control of her mental faculties. Anyway, she'd see him tomorrow at school.  
  
Her head turned sharply in expectation, and the window gave a small, nervous, tapping noise as somebody knocked on it from outside. She was on the second floor, so there was only one person it could be. She could see the Saiyaman outfit dimly in the darkness, mingling with her own double reflection in the glass. Besides, she'd known all along, hadn't she?  
  
Gohan stepped through the balcony door as she set it open and smiled. He had missed her, so much, when she wasn't there. It had been almost painful. Why was she laughing?  
  
"You're still wearing that bucket on your head," Will giggled, and fell into her chair laughing, trying to stifle the sound, so as not to let her parents realise that she wasn't alone.  
  
Gohan blushed, clashing with his headgear, and hastily pulled the orange helmet over his ears, muzzing up his hair into a ruffled mess in the process. Will tutted and smoothed it gently into place with her fingers, not for the fact that it was messy, but because she needed to prove he was really here, not just a hallucination brought on through her longing for him to be there with her.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked after a moment, pulling him to sit down beside her on the bed. Gohan's arm moved to lie around her shoulder and she smiled, shifting closer to the warmth of his body. Ah, this was what she had needed- Gohan to be here to touch her and talk to her and hug her and...  
  
"I came to see you of course, elfy," Gohan replied lightly, tweaking her nose between his fingers and kissing it gently. "I missed you."  
  
"I missed you too," Will replied, knowing that he already perceived that, the moment she had got a twinge of longing for him to be there. "We've got to be quiet, though. My parents are downstairs, and they're being quiet now for a change, so they'll hear us if we're talking too loud."  
  
Gohan smiled and kissed her again, lingering for a second. "I can't stay long." he sighed. "`Kasaan waits up for me most nights, and she'll be suspicious if I don't come home. She already suspects that something's going on."  
  
Will grinned and leant her head onto his shoulder, touching him while she could. "She's got good instincts, then." Gohan chuckled with his hand over his mouth, stifling the sound so that Will's parents wouldn't come up there and chuck him out for climbing up the wall and into their daughter's bedroom.  
  
"Perhaps I'd better introduce you to them," Will said suddenly, a thoughtful look on her face. "That way we can avoid awkward questions if they did come in." Gohan's mind affirmed her thought, and he turned to look at the clock, right where he knew it would be from her knowledge, without having to think about it.  
  
"It's not that late. Want me to go round the front door?" he asked, one eyebrow raised in question. Will giggled at the expression on his face, then nodded. "No time like the present." 


	17. Chapter 17

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
  
Will sat and waited, nearly holding her breath. She had opened the door to her room a tiny crack to get out more quickly. It would be easier if she answered the door, rather than her okasaan or otousan. The shrill, ear-splitting bell she'd begged her parents to change buzzed, and she ran quickly down the stairs, and switched to a smart walk when she arrived at ground level to dispel suspicion. She grabbed the handle just as her parents walked into the hall behind her.   
"Hey, Gohan!" Will's voice was carefully surprised, and she stepped back to let him, smiling politely, through the door. He had changed back into his normal clothes- Gohan didn't want her parents knowing he was the Great Saiyaman.   
"'Kasaan, 'tousan, this is my boyfriend, Gohan."  
Gohan asked with a small mental smile of amusement.   
Her voice was droll and warm, but none of it showed on her face. Gohan could tell she was using a hologram mask, at least for a moment until her smile came under control.  
"Um…hi, Gohan," Will's mother replied after a moment of surprise. Will hadn't mentioned anything about Gohan being her boyfriend when she had told her parents where she'd been staying. And if she'd been staying at his house… parental concerns grew.  
"Come in," her father filled in the silence, leading them into the living room where they sat down, Gohan seated next to Will on the coach while her parents placed themselves into armchairs, apart from one another. Will winced slightly at their pointed separation, but decided to ignore it. There was no point fretting- at least they could sit in the same room for a little while.  
"I'm afraid we've already eaten, Gohan," Will's mother told him, trying to be polite. Her mind was whirling over possibilities- Will had been staying at Gohan's house, and if they were boyfriend and girlfriend… well, Will was 18 now, and it was good that she was finally starting to show an interest in boys. Her parents had been starting to worry that it was an alien thing, and that she would become even stranger to them than she already was.   
"That's alright," he replied easily, attempting to ease the tension in the room. Will's mind held no doubt- it was from her parents, being so close together and not being able to argue without giving Gohan a bad impression of the household.   
"I just came by to drop off some of Will's stuff that she left behind, a couple of textbooks. I'd better get home, my 'kasaan will be waiting for me." Handing her the slim volumes he had taken from her room earlier, Gohan stood to leave and waved goodbye as he walked along the street in a random direction, waiting until the door was closed to take off silently into the night sky.  
^^^  
Will walked through the gates, refreshed with new vigour. Her skin was positively glowing from the inside, a luminescence surrounded her despite the cold of winter. It was strange, Gohan reflected, how she fit into the powder white scenery, blending in with crisply reflecting snow to look as though she had been crafted from it herself by unseen, but ultimately skilful hands. A warm winter nymph she appeared to him. An elf in the beauty of snow.   
"Hey, sweet," she greeted him, not even turning around to see him walk up behind her. "I won't bother asking how you are."  
Gohan grinned. It had become a running joke, since they had succumbed to the 'once a day' sightings they had of one another at school, snatching a few shared moments when parents were out or they decided to go somewhere together. An hour here, an hour there… despite knowing always how and where the other was, it had been difficult to adjust to being apart for so long. And now it was getting to be too cold to go anywhere.  
Chichi had accepted their relationship with minimal objections, finally giving in when she had realised how grown up and mature Gohan was, and how much they were in love. Remembering fondly the days when she had first been in love with Goku, she conceded her 'permission', not that it mattered. Even without it, they would still have carried on as they did.  
Iraza came up to them with a smile on her face. The school was 'in on' their relationship now, after Will had decided in a fit of stubbornness that she couldn't be bothered to keep it secret any more. Why bother, when it was plain that they were going to be together for a long time? Iraza had squealed with glee when she found out that her suspicions had been correct, and it seemed from Videl's letters that she had always expected as much, after she had gone away.   
"God, Will, you're so pale!" the blonde exclaimed. "You look like an icicle! Get inside, now."   
"Hai, arigato, 'kasaan," Will replied in good humour and rolled her eyes, heading for the doors to the muddy corridor, trodden with fast melting slush. She had to admit, the white spotted wind was slicing through her padded coat as though, instead of the soft flakes, it contained miniature razor blades that had been preserved in ice for the summer.  
The classroom was freezing too, the heating not having kicked in properly yet. The teacher had consented to let them wear their coats and scarves for the duration. The cries of complaint simply weren't worth it. Momentarily, she wondered about losing the tips of her delicate ears to frostbite, then grinned as Gohan remarked that at least she had extra ear to lose!  
Will stuck her tongue out at him, then withdrew it quickly into her mouth. It was far too cold for it to be out, when it was used to the warmth inside her body!  
"Class, I'm sorry to inform you that, after your arduous trek, we're sending you home." The teacher barely finished her sentence before the crowd of whooping teenagers fled the room, grabbing snow specked rucksacks and tearing into the snow outside, laughing at their sudden fortune. Will cast her eyes upward into the pock-marked ceiling in an expression of put-upon acceptance. "Kami-senin, why do you torture me so?" Gohan laughed and pulled her out of the classroom by a padded arm. "Don't jinx it!" he exclaimed, looking around mock-furtively, as though making sure no teacher would loom out of a classroom and leap upon them to submit them to work. "Besides, it's Dende now. You know Piccolo fused with Kami!" he told her easily, ignoring her sigh, born of the fact that he expected her to remember everything that had ever happened!  
"Where shall we go?" she asked as soon as they got through the gates to relative safety. "My 'rents are out, and we have a decent heating system, unlike school," she offered hopefully, and laughed as she was half-dragged, running along the street to a warmer, more comforting place. 


	18. Chapter 18

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will frowned with growing worry. Her monthlies were late, and she was usually on time. Besides, a week was pushing it a bit. And she also had a rather nagging suspicion as to the reason.  
As a lump grew in her throat, she realised that she'd have to get a pregnancy test. she thought, imagining the sneering 10th grader working part time in the chemist. Then she snorted at her own idiocy. Unlike most teenagers who worried about being 'with child', she could cast a hologram around herself to disguise her identity. she conceded with a wistful memory of Gohan's correction. Then, she hadn't realised what she knew now. And it was terrifying.  
^^^  
Her brow creased with worried anticipation, as Will sat and waited for the test to develop. If she was pregnant, she knew Gohan would, quite possibly, be very happy, albeit a little shocked. It was her fault, really, for not thinking of it, always putting it off to 'think about later', by which time she had forgotten. She realised in a sickening lurch what the sex education lectures were getting at as a thin blue band swam into focus. She checked it again, it might be a mistake… but no. The little line blazed out at her accusingly. She lay heavily back onto her bed, spreading her arms, test clenched in one fist, and gazing blankly at the ceiling. She was pregnant. she told herself with wide-eyed uneasiness. It was hardly surprising really. But yet…  
A small knock on her balcony door, and it slid open to show Gohan's face, creased with slight anxiety after feeling her emotional turmoil. She sat up hastily, hiding the test in her palm. The helmet's visor reflected her room and her own worried face back at her, and she smiled weakly, waving him over. "Take that off," she told him firmly, but her voice lacked its normal bounce.   
"What is it?" he asked, not having seen what she clutched so tightly in her fist.  
"Trust me, your mind's gonna be like mine in a few minutes," Will prophesied darkly.  
"What?" Gohan stared in confusion at the blue section of the stick she proffered him, not understanding. Will swallowed and spoke dryly.  
"How would you feel if I told you that the title 'mate' has been justified?" she asked with the fear now showing directly on her face. "I'm pregnant." She stood and nervously watched his reaction, half knowing what it would be but yet…  
Gohan's eyes seemed as though they were about to pop out of their sockets as he gawped stupidly for a stunned second while the information sunk in. She could feel the fireworks exploding behind his eyes. "Told you," She gulped, in a tiny voice. Then he reached out quicker than her eyes could follow and hugged her close, with her damp face buried in the green tunic he had donned for his hero job, now neglected in light of his sudden fatherhood. "It's alright," he whispered into her ear, his voice now husky with shock and a surge of protectiveness. "I love you. It doesn't matter, because I love you," he repeated in a confirming mantra as much to himself as to Will. Pregnant! Chichi was going to kill him…not to mention what her parents would probably do him too…  
Will sniffed with a wry grin, having picked up on these fervent thoughts. "It's not fair really, that the guy always gets blamed," she remarked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's my fault too."  
"It's nobodies fault!" Gohan replied with anger in his voice. "This child is wanted and loved! It must always be so."  
Will smiled and kissed him, her relief and new emerging instinctive satisfaction at her successful furthering of their species' welling up inside her mind.  
"Will, marry me," Gohan burst out, as her face paled with sudden surprise at this unexpected request.  
"Are you just trying to make it viable that I got pregnant after we got married?" she asked with a smidgen of her normal humour in her inflection, then mellowing visibly before his reddening face and intense gaze. "Of course I'll marry you, you baka!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck and talking directly to his ear, to save him the embarrassment of his scarlet face. "I already consider myself your property, anyway, so why not make it legal?"  
He grinned, and kissed her hard once more. She smiled against his kiss.  
"But I want a proper ring you know," she giggled, and he joined in, laughing helplessly- more with relief than from any humour in the situation.  
  
(AN: Sorry I didn't update for a few days… it was the end of my half-term holiday (I live in the UK and we have a week off in the middle of each term) and I haven't had time! Due to rather emphatic requests for updates, I have supplied the new chapters…) 


	19. Chapter 19

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will waited in trepidation for an opportunity to speak to her mother when her father was out. It would be easier to talk with her 'kasaan first, then get her to talk to 'tousan- they now had a deeply ingrained fear of arguing with one another, in case they set off the whole messy process again. Will knew she was giving them the perfect fodder for another battle, but it was necessary. It wasn't like she could keep the whole thing secret until she gave birth to a saiyajin-elf-human hybrid, and they'd have to know then too, even if she could keep it that long!  
  
"'Kasaan, I want to talk to you," she managed with the worry showing plainly on her face. Dende, but this was going to be difficult. Gohan had agreed that she had to tell them everything, about the bond and all, if they were to really understand. But this meant baring more of her soul than had ever been exposed to the harsh light of day to any but Gohan.  
  
Her mother picked up on the tone of apprehension in Will's voice and took her to sit down on the couch, with an understanding look on her face, put on though it was. She was eager to accept her daughter's trust. "What is it, Willow?"  
  
"'Kasaan, it's going to take a long time to explain everything to you, but first and foremost…" she took a deep breath, and examining her mother's face. "I'm pregnant." Will clapped a hand over her mother's mouth before she could yell the words Will could see forming in shock. "Alright, now I'll explain the rest…"  
  
^^^  
  
"So…Gohan's an alien too?" her mother was pale now, but she knew her daughter was telling the truth. They had always known she was physically and mentally incapable of telling them a lie, ever since she was a child and had owned up to the stolen cookies.  
  
"Yes." Will's answer was short and succinct- she didn't think her mother could handle some of the more extraordinary facts about her daughter's boyfriend. She had finally accepted the inevitability of Will's conception, considering the devotion between her Will and Gohan… but being a grandmother already!  
  
"Have you told your father?" Will shook her head, and her mother sighed with comprehension. "You want me to tell him." Will nodded, relieved that she didn't have to ask her mother directly.  
  
"There's one other thing…" Will's face broke into a smile, so radiant that her mother lost any doubts she had had at all about the truths she had been told. "He asked me to marry him."  
  
"Before or after you told him you were pregnant?" the woman asked, and Will rolled her eyes at the perceptiveness of her parent. "After, but we would have gotten married eventually I expect," she replied carefully, not telling the whole truth. Quite possibly they wouldn't have. Marriage wasn't really necessary, though Chichi would probably have kicked up enough of a rumpus to force them to.  
  
^^^  
  
"Willow! That man's green!"  
  
Will sighed, breaking of her conversation, and walked over to her waving grandmother. The old woman was dressed in her horrible mangy brown coat that dragged slightly on the floor. It definitely had a lived-in look. She was also armed with an enormous leather handbag which quite possibly bottomless, as she was capable of producing almost anything from it, as well as absorbing other small items which had to be removed tactfully from her person whenever she left a house. To complete the entourage she had an enormous black umbrella that was of similar proportions to the bag, which she had refused to surrender at the door. She was also half-deaf, and didn't know that Piccolo could hear her stage whispering (even though he was pretending not to)- as could everybody else within a ten-mile radius.  
  
"Yes, Grandmother, he is green."  
  
"Why, girl?" she demanded, jabbing Will with the end of the umbrella. "Is he sick? Give him some cod liver oil, that'll sort him out!" she began to rummage in her handbag, muttering. "When I was a gal…"  
  
"No, Grandmother, he's not sick…he's…" Will said hastily as she fumbled inside her mind for a suitable excuse for the Namek, before the dreaded relative actually produced some ancient cod liver oil and tried to feed it to Piccolo.  
  
"Eh? Out with it girl!"  
  
Unfortunately, this was her paternal Grandmother, and knew nothing of her own alien heritage.  
  
"He's German!" She burst out with, and was rewarded with a loud snort from the old woman, showing her contempt for Germans. In her opinion, Piccolo's 'nationality' excused him his skin colour. "Bad as the Bolsheviks, the lot of 'em," was the reply. She shuffled away to demand tea from the nearest parent, and Will breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear a mental snigger from Gohan.  
  
It was a day before they got married, only a month after Will had discovered that she was pregnant. Her relatives had insisted on meeting the groom and his party before they let her get married- she had always been the baby of the family, with her aunts fussing over her and her uncles trying to be helpful and sociable but getting in her way. She had been asked how she was getting on at school at lest seven times already. And now Gohan was laughing at her Grandmother.  
  
"Just be thankful she hasn't re-noticed Tien yet," she whispered, leaning on the wall beside her groom-to-be before a random aunt sent her an evil glare that made her stand up straight, shoulders back.  
  
"They really have you under the thumb, don't they," he remarked, watching as the aunt in question walked off, into another conversation, with a smug look on her face. Will slumped again.  
  
"Tell me about it. Thank God I'm not getting fat yet, 'cos they don't know," she whispered, then laughed at herself, being this cautious. "At least they seem to approve of you and Chichi. She's discussing cooking with Auntie Mina, and Auntie Heather is playing with Goten…"  
  
Gohan laughed out loud. "And Piccolo is from Germany, while Tien has to keep his third eye closed so your grandmother doesn't start poking him again with her umbrella demanding to know why 'the poor dear' hasn't got a surgeon yet. And he's still got those sticking plasters."  
  
Will laughed in horror. "Just be thankful you haven't still got a tail, or I'd be forbidden by all five uncles, probably in unison, to marry a monkey- man." 


	20. Chapter 20

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Will stood in nervous anticipation as all the friends and relatives had squashed themselves into pews. This was the last chance for everything to go pear-shaped. She walked back over to the mirror, checking her hologram. The wedding dress was perfect. She had spent hours before, browsing catalogues for ideas. The hologram dress was creamy white, rather than brilliant white, so as not to show up her pale face. It hung elegantly, bodice shining with embroidered pearls. Long gloves encased slender hands. Her family had insisted on a traditional wedding, so she had obliged, creating in a few moments a dress that would have taken weeks to make. At least the bouquet was real, creamy roses nestled in ferny foliage. Similar flowers decked her headpiece, veil up over her head for the moment. She flicked it down over long plaited hair. A blue handkerchief was tucked into one glove. A gift from grandma, who insisted that she should have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. This probably accounted for three of the four, as it certainly wasn't new and doubtless the old lady would want it back. Luckily, Will had had time to wash it out. As for something new, she touched the necklace Gohan had given her. A shimmering milky gemstone in silver casing nestled at her throat. She smiled to herself. Surely nothing could go wrong now?  
  
Trunks and Goten tumbled into the small room, decked out in horribly starched and old fashioned page boy suits, both looking about a size too big for their occupants. They had been forced into them by numerous Aunties, and although the outfits were already crumpled, at least they were complete.  
  
"This is soooooo stupid" winged Goten, hiking up his trousers. Trunk's disgusted expression confirmed the sentiment, as Will's father entered the room. A hush had developed in the church, and the music started. Will hastily herded the boys into position, and took a deep breath as they stepped out into the isle. Gohan smiled at his bride. She had done an excellent job of the dress, and the boys were behaving, under the watchful eye of Chichi. Grandma craned forwards, straining to see her blue hankie. Will smiled at the old lady and let her glove slip slightly, displaying the powder blue material. She sat back in her chair, satisfied. Then Will noticed a figure at the front of the church. The father of the groom! She grinned at him, with genuine pleasure at his appearance, and Goku smiled back. Will was pleased for Gohan, and flattered that Goku would come back from the next dimension to go to their wedding! Gohan stepped forwards and took her arm. He was dressed in a black suit, but had flatly refused the top hat which had been another of grandma's ideas. They finished the journey together, and as the oaths were taken, Will almost reeled with happiness. Piccolo gave the ring to Gohan, who slid it onto her finger. It sparked in the light, a white diamond, set in silver. Here's your proper ring Gohan whispered in intimate mind speech. Will beamed back at him, and as they kissed, they both felt a relief that it was over, that they were free to be together for the rest of their lives.  
  
Goku had begged another day from the Grand Kai to go to his son's wedding, and Gohan was ecstatic to see Goku there. Will's pleasure to see him and Chichi's reaction had polished it off for him. There was no way he could stay dead, not when he was missing so much of his family's lives. He had to come back.  
  
^^^  
  
At the reception, Goku announced to his friends- carefully choosing his words to keep it from Will's family- that he had decided to come back, though he didn't have enough time that day to use the instant transmission to find the Dragonballs. As Gohan's happiness increased even more, Will smiled once again. It looked like being an interesting pregnancy, if she was going to help Gohan collect the Dragonballs. And there was no way she was going to stay behind, not when something interesting was finally going on! Her one taste of their world with Babidi was the only thing she'd needed to develop a healthy interest in Gohan's affairs. 


	21. Chapter 21

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
  
  
"No, no, and no."  
  
Gohan carefully countered any reasons Will had for helping with the dragonballs. There was no way he was going to let her help, not while she was pregnant- not ever, when she was as weak as she was.  
  
"Oh, come on. It's not like it's going to be particularly dangerous," Will tried, knowing it was pointless. There was no way he was going to let her come with him, however determined she was. "I promise not to get in the way!"  
  
"No!" Gohan was almost yelling now, his face red from trying not to. "How do you know it won't be dangerous? Even you admit that you haven't seen your own feet in weeks. You're not coming!"  
  
"Okay," Will replied suddenly, and Gohan closed his mouth from whatever he was going to yell next. What was she up to now…?  
  
Will gave a small lopsided smile of acceptance. There was no way he was going to let her go- that much was obvious from what she could read of his mind- so there was no point in continuing the argument.  
  
Their house was in the mountains, only a minute or two's flight away from Gohan's old home. Will had quit school, getting her graduation certificate early- after all, she had finished the course a long time ago. Besides, it would be too embarrassing to go into school, round with pregnancy, despite being married. It was obvious to anybody- her waist was no longer slim, even in the loosest sense of the word, and even though she was capable of hiding it, she couldn't keep up the holograms all the time.  
  
"Um…good," Gohan managed, still trying to figure out what had made her subside into acquiescence. He sat down next to her on the sofa and hugged her, one arm around her shoulders. "It's not that I don't want you to come, it's just that I don't want you to get hurt," he told her, kissing her forehead. "It can be dangerous, sometimes."  
  
"I know, I know," Will grumbled, her own frustration subsiding. It wasn't fair she was so breakable! She never got to have any fun! And now she was pregnant, she'd get to stay home and look after the baby. Great.  
  
"Don't grouse, Will," Gohan mumbled soothingly in her ear, trying to understand why she was so annoyed about this one thing. "You can come see the dragon, anyway."  
  
Will grinned lopsidedly. "You're talking to me like you do to Goten, you know," she commented, tweaking his nose between forefinger and thumb affectionately. He was only trying to protect her, she knew, and it was probably her own sense of self-security that made her believe she could do something like that in her 'condition'.  
  
"Anyway, it's only taken this long to get started because of school and Uni.," Gohan replied, grinning back as Will glanced mournfully down at her once slender waist. "As soon as I'm finished, you can give up your job."  
  
Will had already done her degree course during school hours, the teachers gratefully allowing her the work that they didn't need to set or mark. She'd been working at home, designing intricate DHTML websites for big companies. She was talented at it, but it wasn't her ideal job- working with her cousin Bulma as a scientist- but easy enough to do at home.  
  
"Yeah, right," Will remarked with one eyebrow raised. "I don't think so, buster."  
  
Gohan rolled his eyes and snorted good-humouredly. It had been more a tease than a statement, really- he knew that she fully intended continuing working as long as she wanted to, not stopping because she didn't have to. She didn't really need to anyway, even then- her relatives had insisted on gifting them with money. At least they were useful for something. Will had retorted something incoherent about dowries and outmoded social orders, but her relatives hadn't heard it, or at least hadn't acknowledged her muffled riposte.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan got in late that night, the solitary dragonball cradled neatly, cool in the palm of his hand. He alighted on the moon-bathed floor, padding across the room. One free day every month or so meant it was going to take forever to find the dragonballs, but nobody else seemed to be helping. They all had basically assumed that he could manage it, forgetting the question of his education, young wife and soon-to-be-born child. I guess they're all busy too, Gohan allowed generously, placing the sphere in a drawer. Considering how they were starting families of their own or off somewhere training in the wilderness, leaving no contact address. Even Bulma had been busy, with big business deals and making sure that Vegeta didn't help in the quest. They didn't want him wasting the wishes on immortality for himself!  
  
Quickly running through his ablutions, Gohan crept carefully into bed beside the sleeping Will, who murmured slightly in her restful dreams before settling down again. Grinning affectionately, Gohan watched for a moment as Will slept, still as entranced as he had always been by her sleeping countenance, glinting lashes serenely closed. Then he moved down to lay his head gently against her stomach. He'd been doing this for a while, every night when he was sure she was asleep- whispering to the child gradually developing inside her womb, telling it about the battles he'd been in, his family, the saiyajins. Sometimes he could feel the baby move in it's protected sleep and it was as though it was settling more comfortably to listen to the calming voice of its father.  
  
Will smiled lightly, still asleep. Linked as she was to Gohan, despite her period of REM she could still hear the words he spoke to their child, forming loving patterns in her rested mind, and sense his warm arms around her when he quieted, hands on her abdomen with fingers splayed protectively over their infant. They still didn't know if it was a boy or a girl- Will had asked that they weren't told, to make it a surprise- but it was undeniably alive, even if they still referred to him/her as 'it'.  
  
Sinking down drowsily, Gohan pulled Will close, wrapping his arms around her waist and the baby. Before long, he fell into a contented sleep. The three minds were peaceful.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan had collected four dragonballs by the next month, getting more spare time than expected while the other students caught up with him. He hadn't realised how far ahead he was, caught up as he had been with the dragonball hunt. Looking up from the large pocket-watch-like appliance in his hand, Gohan walked calmly into the building in front of him, replacing it in its pocket as he pushed open the door with a jangle. The shopkeeper, a woman in her early middle-years, looked up in surprise and greeted him warmly, thinking him another customer in her jeweller's shop.  
  
"Excuse me, but have you seen something like this? I think it's in this building," Gohan asked courteously, but was surprised by the violence of the reaction when he pulled the four-star dragonball from his pocket.  
  
"I know what that is," the woman gasped, her hand unconsciously darting to the large wooden cross which hung around her neck. It was smoothly polished by her touch. "I can't give that to you. I know what that thing does!"  
  
"Huh?" Gohan's face crinkled in puzzlement. "What do you think I'm going to use that for?"  
  
"Too many evil things can be done with those globes. I can't give it to you!" she continued, crossing herself piously. "How do I know you won't use them for evil? Morally, I can't let that happen!"  
  
Gohan stared at her. She thought he was evil? Obviously she was a devout Christian- that much was obvious from the rosary beads around her neck- and obviously she knew what the dragonballs were. But to refuse because she thought they would be used for evil…  
  
Gohan shrugged in demoralised acceptance and walked out in deep thought, planning how he would get that vital dragonball if the woman refused once more, then heard a familiar mind-voice reach out towards him.  
  
# I'll handle this one, then! # Will's mental voice was full of glee and barely concealed excitement at finally being able to help– sitting at home, rubbing her eyes in front of the glowing PC screen had been tiresome to say the least. Before Gohan could tell her not to, she had found out where he was and closed the contact, blocking him off so he couldn't send her any more bans, forbidding her assistance in his quest. 


	22. Chapter 22

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
As the sky darkened and the stars peeped out into the violet dusk, a slim woman with long silver hair streaming down her back approached the closing store, forming a long shadow. She slipped inside, and, before the woman inside could stop her, had closed the door, turning over the 'open' sign to read 'closed'. She turned to the woman, smiling serenely.  
  
"Excuse me, but I believe you are in possession of a dragonball," came the quiet statement, as the woman spluttered in dismay.  
  
"Who…who are you?" was the stuttering reply, and Will sighed in fulfilled rapture. Finally, somebody who knew how something like this was supposed to go. The hologram she had cast to make herself seem slender again had been a small concurrence to her own vanity, but what she was about to cast was necessary if she was to get the dragonball from this lady.  
  
With a larger amount of effort than normal, the child draining some of her energy, the crystal-white wings burst from her back as they spread wide, exquisitely crafted, multi-patterned, bathing the shop in pure white light. They stretched to the ceiling and the tips brushed the walls. Will made an impressive figure, with each piece of sparkling jewellery in the glass cabinets reflected the brilliance, mirroring the radiance until the whole room shone like some unearthly diamond plated paradise. Will grinned internally as the woman gibbered in terror at the manifestation of her belief.  
  
"You're…an angel?" she whispered, crossing herself and rising, tiny mirror lights dancing over her, as Will smiled in confirmation.  
  
"Yes. And I need the dragonball," Will replied. She had had to promise Gohan that she wouldn't lie excessively to the woman- he had eventually agreed that this was the best plan. "We need to restore to life a beloved son of our Lord, who died to save this world from the evil of Lucifer."  
  
"From…from Satan?" came the wavering answer, and the woman smiled suddenly, her belief stoked to white-hot fervour as she saw the proof of her God's existence. Quickly, she hurried into the back of the shop and returned with the perfect orange orb in her hands, the light of the wings bouncing off in beautiful and unexpected reflections from the polished surface. The woman bowed her head in respect and awe as she presented it to the angel. Will's breath was sucked in sharply as she took possession of the object, and smiled gratefully.  
  
"Thank you, thank you very much," she told the woman and then, as a last minute addition, "Bless you." She placed a white hand on the woman's bowed head.  
  
Beaming in happiness at this last, the woman sank into her chair as Will's wings folded and flickered into non-existence as she left, the dragonball cradled carefully in her arms to be received by a delighted Gohan, who flew her carefully home, the smooth orb tucked safely into his pocket.  
  
^^^  
  
"And so we twiddle this bit here…" Bulma was saying as Will watched, fascinated, while her cousin demonstrated her newest idea. "….and the sensors are activated. A slight adjustment I think…" If she was going to have any time to help out at all- (and it was becoming more and more obvious to Will that, if the stories she had heard from Chichi and Bulma about how difficult saiyajin children to handle were true, that this possibility was less than likely)- then she'd have to know a lot more about advanced electronics.  
  
Will bent over to see the circuitry inside the disembowelled gadget, and frowned in puzzlement as her stomach rippled, a very peculiar feeling. Then cried out in shock as she realised what was happening. It had been almost nine months since she had realised she was pregnant, and now she was going into labour with her waters breaking all over Bulma's carpet!  
  
"Bulma!" she said in a wavering voice, staving off panic until her cousin turned, and grasped what was happening.  
  
"What- now?" She asked in near panic herself, as Will nodded mutely. The scientist leapt up and started to drag Will to the car, to drive her to the hospital.  
  
"Hang on!" Will yelped, remembering something vital she just might need. She looked into the living room where Trunks and Goten were playing. "Goten, Trunks, could you go ask Krillin to get the last dragonball and bring it to the hospital? The dragonball radar's on the table just inside my door at home."  
  
"Why?" Goten asked in bewilderment as Bulma came storming back to finish Will's conversation.  
  
"Because you're going to be an uncle later, and I think Goku would want to see his grandchild when it gets born!" Grabbing Will's hand, she persuaded her to go peaceably to the car.  
  
^^^  
  
# Gohan? #   
  
Gohan started slightly as he heard his wife's voice, quiet and shaky inside his head, then realised what the strange feelings he had had in his stomach had meant. The physical bond…  
  
# Will! Now?! # He asked in shock, and began to process his thoughts rationally as his normal thought-processes switched themselves off. He had to get out of here and to her!  
  
# Yes, now. Or do you think I'm just doing this for the fun of it? #   
  
# Ring me, then I can get out of my lecture! #   
  
Moments later, his phone rang, and the teacher looked up in disapproval as Gohan fake-sheepishly answered it, murmured a few quiet words into the empty line, then walked quickly down to the front of the auditorium and whispered in his ear, before the teacher nodded and Gohan grabbed his bag to leave the room quickly, starting to run, taking off as soon as he hit the double doors at a sprint and flung them open to the outside and clear air to fly in.  
  
(AN: I bet you thought that was the end of the fic… well, it wasn't! I want loads more reviews, even if you've reviewed before, or I won't update for AGES!  
  
Thanks to everybody who's reviewed, especially people who give constructive comments, cos I find them useful.  
  
Anyway, Ja ne for now!) 


	23. Chapter 23

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
"Will?"  
  
The elf looked up in pained relief as Gohan came rushing through the door and hugged her where she sat on the hospital bed, in one of those stupid nightgowns that they always gave to pregnant women.  
  
"Hey," she said weakly, then grunted slightly as she got another contraction, her skin rippling strangely. "Well, this is freaky," she managed after a moment, grinning slightly as she watched his confusion and panic. "You're worrying more than I am!"  
  
"I know, I know," Gohan muttered, starting to pace.  
  
"For Dende's sake, Gohan!" Will laughed, suddenly more at ease now that Gohan was here. He was there, would be there when their baby was born, and she would be safe as long as he was near her. She knew it. "Sit down!"  
  
He took a seat briefly, then jumped up again restlessly as the door opened and Bulma came in. "Good, you're here," she said shortly, and grinned at Will. "He worrying more than you?"  
  
"Yeah," Will laughed, "I guess we all know who's the more capable sex!"  
  
Bulma laughed at this, then frowned as Will cried out again, the pain creasing her face, stronger contractions coming faster now.  
  
They shouldn't hurt that much yet… Bulma thought privately, and wished Vegeta was there. He would be able to reassure her.  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan had been kicked out when the doctors had come, following a private talk in the corner that Bulma had had with the midwife. At least the blue- haired scientist had come with him, not allowed to stay in either.  
  
He had felt Will's pain, sharp and agonising before she had cut off the bond, blocking him from sharing her torture. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but there was definitely something. He could tell from the subconscious messages she was sending She felt weaker than normal, even during childbirth…odd…  
  
A doctor came out, peering at a clipboard, and was immediately assailed by a now totally panicking Gohan.  
  
"What's wrong?" He demanded, grabbing her by the wrists.  
  
The doctor sighed and shook her head, gently extracting her arms from his grasp. "Your wife's losing a lot of blood, Mr Son," she told him gently as Gohan's eyes widened in disbelief. "It's really strange- she has no known blood-type, which means we have no match available to us. I'm sorry to say that, unless her baby is born soon and we can do something about the bleeding, we may lose her."  
  
^^^  
  
Gohan's eyes filled with unshed tears of grief as he sat heavily on the hospital chair, which groaned loudly in complaint at the saiyajin's weight delivered with such brute force. He dug his fists into his eye sockets, turning over the doctor's words, squeezing every last drop of meaning from them, in his desperate search for a solution.  
  
"Is there no way you can speed up her birth?" he asked waveringly, his voice nearly breaking on the words. He clutched at a possibility. "What about O Negative blood? Isn't that Universal Donor?"  
  
"Well, as far as we knew," the doctor murmured in distaste at having to give this news. "But we have no way of knowing how it'll affect her. The shock of it could potentially be more dangerous than treatment without transfusion."  
  
Gohan's head rose slowly from where it had hung so despondently, with purpose in his gaze. "The dragonballs." He whispered softly, as if saying the words too loudly would banish the possibility of this solution coming to be.  
  
Bulma's face lit at this comment, and she flew from her chair and shook Gohan violently by the shoulders before he could stop her to find out what it was she was so excited about.  
  
"Will sent Goten and Trunks to get Krillin to bring the last dragonball to the hospital," she rushed, out of breath after the speed she had used to eject this information. Gohan's mind exploded with sudden hope, even as Will's barrier crashed momentarily and he was paralysed fleetingly with her pain, before she regained control and forced it shut once more.  
  
"Where is he?" he whispered, sending his mind out as far as he could to try and detect the short fighter's approach. It looked like Krillin was their last resort to save Will's life- and that of their child. 


	24. Chapter 24

Alone with Everybody  
  
By Butterflygirl  
  
Gohan had gone back into the room after asking Bulma to do the wishes as soon as Krillin arrived. He couldn't do it himself, he couldn't leave Will. The chair was uncomfortable, but nothing compared to the pain on her face. The single hand he held tightly in his own was clasping his in a death- grip, and he could feel the tendons straining. If she squeezed much harder, she would break the bones in her own hand.  
  
"Guess… I chose the right guy whose hand to squeeze," Will managed, grinning despite the pain. "At least I know I won't hurt the strongest guy in the world by squeezing too hard!" Small cries of pain made it through the gaps between her words, though she tried to keep them in.  
  
"Shit!"  
  
Finally, she began to let the pain out in verbal form, even as her skin paled with blood loss, more so even than in the winter, in the cold. Gohan only recognised a few of the words, but the inflection said it all. Will was swearing in every language she knew- and the nurses were staring in horrified shock as these words tumbled from the mouth of such an innocent- looking girl.  
  
"What… what language was that?" one of the younger women asked, eyes wide as she listened to her contemporary swear with such violence. "I know the rest of them…"  
  
"It's damn Elvish!" Will screamed at the top of her voice, filled with fury. Gohan knew that she was only trying to hold onto her anger- as long as she could stay this enraged, she could ignore the pain. But she had just given an all-important clue to the doctors as to why they had no record of her blood-type…  
  
# Not so, dearheart, # Will's mind-voice whispered in his head, and he jumped. How could she do that through the block on the bond?  
  
# Point 1- 'Elvish' was created by a man named J.R.R. Tolkien from Great Britain, # Will replied, not a shred of pain seeping through her tight control. # Secondly, it's a one-way block. #   
  
Gohan stared at her in worry. Though it was hidden from her, he could see the amount of blood she was losing, and it was bad. It was very bad- both her and the baby could quite easily die, though he kept this information from her. But still, her voice was raised in anger, as she fobbed off the almost inevitable, if Krillin didn't get there soon.  
  
"I REFUSE to die!"  
  
^^^  
  
Krillin landed on the grass outside to be assailed by a frantic Bulma.  
  
"WHY WERE YOU SO SLOW?!" she screamed, towering over the shorter fighter. "Will's dying!"  
  
Quickly, she grabbed the dragonballs and invoked the dragon, smiling as the long, sinuous shape of Shenron filled the sky as it became black as night.  
  
"I wish that my cousin Will gives birth now and is healed!"  
  
The dragons eyes glowed red for a moment, and the bone-deep words returned, "IT IS DONE."  
  
"And for my second wish," Bulma grinned in exhilaration, "I wish that we be taken to the planet of the Nameks!"  
  
^^^  
  
The tiny baby girl lay calmly on her mother's chest, listening to the familiar, steady heartbeat as a lot of people who looked a little like her crowded around. She saw the friendly faces through misty eyes and vaguely, as far as a baby could, she wondered why they were here, and why the blue- haired one had put that thing on her head.  
  
Gohan hugged Will around the shoulders as the elf sighed in relief at the cessation of her pain, and they watched in delight as their child blinked those extraordinarily green eyes, along with the cute curl of hair, silky and black as a raven's feather which protruded from the hem of the hat Bulma had given them. It had been Trunks', and the little ears on top were adorable.  
  
Son Mikumi Sansai yawned widely and stretched her little arms, then snuggled down into the warm blanket, sheltered by her family and fell asleep, her grandfather watching proudly with his hand on Chichi's shoulder and a quiet smile on his lips, while Will dozed off in exhaustion. Then they turned and left the room, softly closing the door, to leave her, Gohan and Mikumi alone. Gohan sat down by the two sleeping forms, content to watch, and love.  
  
1 THE END  
  
1.1 Mikumi- set of three  
  
1.2 Sansai- the three powers of heaven 


End file.
